RG Kar case: Protesting doctors� hunger strike enters 3rd day

Kolkata, Oct 7 (IANS) The fast-unto-death protest of six junior doctors at Esplanade in Kolkata, over the rape and murder of their colleague in the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College Hospital entered the third day on Monday.

On Sunday night, one more junior doctor joined the other six who volunteered to start the hunger strike on October 4 evening.

The seventh doctor to join the hunger strike is Aniket Mahato from R.G. Kar.

Mahato has also explained the logic behind his decision to join the fast-unto-death agitation.

“Since six of our colleagues from different medical colleges & hospitals volunteered to begin the hunger strike, some people had been questioning why no one from R.G. Kar was among those six. Probably, they forgot that the plight of the junior doctors because of the existing ‘threat culture’ is not just limited to R.G. Kar. That is why those raising the question tried to create confusion among people,” said Mahato.On Sunday night, two junior doctors from R.G. Kar, namely Mahato and Ashfaqulla Nair, reached the hunger-strike venue and initially, it appeared that both would join the hunger-strike. But later after discussions it was decided that Mahato would be joining the fast-unto-death for the time being.The six junior doctors who volunteered to begin the hunger strike on Saturday evening were Pulastya Acharya from N.R.S. Medical College & Hospital, Tanaya Panja, Snighdha Hazra and Anustup Mukhopadhyay from Calcutta Medical College & Hospital, Sayantani Ghosh Hazra from K.P.C Medical College & Hospital and Arnab Mukhopadhyay from S.S.K.M Medical College & Hospital.

The protest is unique in the sense that while these seven junior doctors are in fast-unto-death agitation, their colleagues have gone back to their assignments of rendering medical services, withdrawing their cease-work agitation.Meanwhile, a team of 15 senior doctors reached the venue of the hunger strike on Monday morning to express solidarity towards their junior colleges. According to them, they will also be on hunger strike for the next 24 hours as an expression of solidarity towards the protesting junior doctors.The protesting juniors have already installed CCTV at the venue of their hunger strike for the sake of transparency. At the same time, instead of waiting for the permission of the Kolkata Police, the protesting junior doctors have also set up two separate bio-toilets near the protest venue, one for the female protesters and one for their male counterparts.