TMC MLA threatens junior docs amid Monday cease work call

Trinamool Congress MLA Humayun Kabir has courted controversy by threatening to gherao junior doctors of Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital in Berhampore.

IMAGE: People gather with umbrellas to attend a protest amid heavy rainfall demanding justice for R G Kar doctor Rape and murder case, in Kolkata, September 26, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

Expressing his resentment over the "attitude of some junior doctors of Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital," Kabir, the Bharatpur MLA in Murshidabad district said, "They agitate and protest in airconditioned rooms while the masses suffer on streets."

"I have come to know that an FIR has been lodged against me for my previous comments against junior doctors who were on cease work earlier this month. I am not scared. Let them take out a rally of 1,000 people. If I am sent to jail for my comments, once I am released I will take 10,000 people to gherao the junior doctors," he told reporters on Saturday night.

"Are these people fit to be called doctors?! It will take me two minutes to make them return to their workplace," he said.

While Kabir referred to the junior doctors of Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital, he made the comments in the backdrop of proposed 'cease work' called by junior doctors from September 30 afternoon giving the authorities time to show demonstrative response to their demands for safety at hospitals and police action to thwart attackers.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Dilip Ghosh said irresponsible statements by Trinamool leaders are aggravating the situation.

"The situation has come to such pass that the entire system is on the verge of collapse, patients' deaths are protested by their aggrieved kin who blame poor healthcare facilities while junior doctors are feeling insecure in hospitals. They are on the streets for safety," Ghosh told reporters on Sunday.

He said TMC MLAs are making threatening statements which is aggravating the situation.

Junior doctors of West Bengal on Saturday night said that they would decide on resuming total 'cease work' in medical colleges after observing the state government's submission on their safety and security at workplaces during the hearing of the Kar case in the Supreme Court on September 30.

Their decision was taken after three doctors and three nurses were assaulted following the death of a patient at the College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital near Kolkata on Friday night.

The medics alleged that the attacks at the state-run hospital have shown that the state government has "totally failed" to deliver promises to provide them security.