AIIMS Doctors Call Off Strike, Issue 48 Hours Ultimatum

Chandigarh : The doctors of the All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) today called off their protest and gave a 48 hours ultimatum to the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee to meet the demands of the protesting doctors.

Dr. Jawahar Singh, Vice President of the Resident Medical Association (RDA), AIIMS informed HuffPost India that if the demands of the West Bengal doctors were not met within 48 hours, they would be forced to resort to an indefinite strike.

“The situation in West Bengal has deteriorated further. The doctors are being threatened, held hostages inside their hostels and were even assaulted. We are watching it closely and will soon intensify the stir f the WB government fails to address the safety of doctors in the state,” said Dr. Singh.

The doctors continues to wear red-stained bandages and helmets as a mark of protest against the assault on their counterparts in WB during duty hours. 

Meanwhile, Union health Minister Dr. Harshvardhan has written to  WB Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee and urged her to personally intervene to resolve the current impasse and ensure security to doctors in the state.

The doctors strike held immediately after the shocking defeat of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the recently held Lok Sabha Elections has posed a serious political challenge for the state government in West Bengal. The government on Friday issued a four hours ultimatum to the doctors to either  resume duties or else vacate the hostel  but the young practitioners refused to quit. They even turned down the CM’s invitation to meet and instead demanded an unconditional apology.

Meanwhile,  Calcutta High Court gives 7 days to WB govt to respond while hearing a PIL on doctors strike in the state. Court asked state what steps were taken by the govt to end the impasse. Court also said that state will have to put an end to this & find a solution.

The AIIMS doctors’ 48-hour ultimatum came a day after Mamata Banerjee gave them a four-hour ultimatum to withdraw their strike. Facing demonstrations from striking doctors, Mamata Banerjee on Thursday gave them a four-hour ultimatum to either withdraw their strike or vacate the hostels.

The young medicos, however, refused to budge.

On Friday, doctors of several hospitals in Delhi, including AIIMS, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana went on a strike in solidarity with the striking doctors of West Bengal, demanding safe environment for the practitioners.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) also called for a nationwide strike on June 17, demanding safe working conditions for doctors. It also launched a three-day nationwide protest, beginning Friday to express solidarity with the West Bengal doctors agitating against the assault of their colleague in Kolkata.

After the agitating doctors declined Mamata’s invite for a meeting, the West Bengal chief minister gave them time again at 5 pm on Saturday for the meeting “to find a solution to the ongoing impasse”.