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Junior doctors hold placards during a demonstration after an intern doctor was attacked and seriously injured over the death of a 75-year-old patient, at Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital, in Kolkata on Thursday. (PTI)[/caption]
Kolkata, Jun 13 (PTI): The opposition camp in West Bengal slammed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday for her alleged threats to agitating doctors and sought her immediate resignation as the health minister.
Bengal BJP vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said the chief minister, instead of solving the problem, was indulging in blame game.
"Is this a way to deal with the agitating doctors? Instead of solving the problem, she is blaming the doctors, the BJP and others. This is completely absurd. If she can't control the situation, she should resign as the health minister," Majumdar said.
The chief minister on Thursday asked agitating junior doctors across the state to resume work and warned of action if the order is not followed.
Banerjee, who visited the state-run SSKM hospital in the wake of disruption of medical services in several parts of the state over the past three days, directed police to clear hospital premises, asserting that no one other than the patients should be allowed on the campus.
She had given the doctors a four-hour deadline to rejoin service, but later revised it to 2 pm.
The chief minister also claimed that the agitation was part of a conspiracy of the BJP and the CPI(M).
Accusing the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo of politicizing the issue, CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said Banerjee does not seem interested in ending the impasse.
"Is she is concerned about solving the problem, or would just want to politicize the matter? The way she was threatening the doctors, it seems she is not at all interested in ending the impasse," he said.
Doctors across the state have called for a strike in protest against the attack on two of their colleagues at NRS Medical College and Hospital in the city by family members of a patient, who died Monday night.
Services have been affected over the past three days in emergency wards, outdoor facilities and pathological units of many state-run medical colleges and hospitals and a number of private medical facilities in the state, leaving many patients in the lurch.
Despite the CM's warning, the agitating doctors were seen continuing the protest at the state-run hospitals.
They raised "we want justice" slogans before Banerjee.
Sources said a delegation of doctors would be meeting Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi Thursday to submit a deputation in connection with the ongoing protest.