GG News Bureau
Kolkata, 12th Oct. The West Bengal government said on Saturday that the mass resignation of doctors from state-run hospitals is invalid and must be submitted individually according to service rules. This announcement comes in response to a wave of collectively signed resignation letters submitted by several doctors from state-run hospitals. These letters were aimed at seeking justice for a post-graduate trainee who was raped and murdered at Kolkata’s R G Kar Medical College and Hospital and in support of junior medics on a fast-unto-death to press their demands.
Alapan Bandyopadhyay, chief advisor to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, clarified to reporters at the state secretariat, Nabanna, that “unless an employee sends in his/her resignation personally to the employer as per service rules, it is not a resignation letter.” He emphasized that the letters submitted by the doctors were merely collective signatures that did not address specific issues.
Bandyopadhyay also stressed the government’s intention to clarify the situation amidst confusion regarding the mass resignations by senior doctors from various government hospitals, including R G Kar Medical College, IPGMER, and SSKM Hospital. Earlier this week, a group of senior doctors at R G Kar Medical College sent a collectively signed “mass resignation” letter in solidarity with their protesting junior colleagues, leading to similar letters from other state-run hospitals.
Junior doctors at several government hospitals in the state are currently on a fast-unto-death, demanding justice for their murdered colleague, the resignation of the state’s health secretary, and enhanced workplace security. However, the government asserted that healthcare services in state-run hospitals have not been disrupted, as senior doctors continue to work normally. The junior doctors had previously called off their ‘total cease work’ at state-run medical colleges and hospitals on October 4.
