Cease work by doctors 'illegal', says TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee on 100th day of R G Kar protest

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee on Sunday accused doctors who held prolonged agitation demanding justice for the medic raped and murdered in R G Kar Hospital of not giving proper care to patients in government hospitals.

He claimed that those of the civil society who joined the junior doctors' agitation belonged to the "elite class" and not recipients of treatment at state-run medical facilities, where he said that those from the poorer sections of the society go for receiving medical care.

"One cannot do injustice to anyone in the name of seeking justice," he said while speaking at a programme in his constituency Srirampur.

Stating that the prolonged ceasework by junior doctors was "illegal", Banerjee said that an agitation that denies treatment to the people of West Bengal is not acceptable.

Sunday marks the 100th day of the August 9 rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital here.

Claiming that the junior doctors might have got inspired by the agitation in neighbouring Bangladesh against the Sheikh Hasina government, he said, "They (medics) might have thought that by imbibing them they would be able to form the government here.

The TMC MP, who has been vocal against the agitating medics earlier also, alleged that a section of junior doctors send patients to private facilities.

Maintaining that the senior doctors at state-run hospitals provide treatment to patients properly, he said, "They know providing service to the people is most important." Pointing fingers at the erstwhile CPI(M)-led Left Front government, he said that threat culture, which the agitating junior doctors have alleged against some of their colleagues, was prevalent during the 34-year rule of the communist party.