"We decided to not to withdraw protests even after a successful meeting. Whatever happens we will discuss in general body meeting and then decide on future course of action.
If the meeting is unsuccessful, we shall have a press conference and announce she didn’t agree to her demands.” said Dr S Mehebub Hossain, junior resident doctor, Calcutta Medical College & Hospital.
The West Bengal government has accepted a key demand of the junior doctors, protesting against the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, that the infrastructure of state-run hospitals should be developed.
The consensus was reached during the meeting between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the doctors at her residence in south Kolkata's Kalighat area on Monday.
The doctors, who have been adamant over the live-streaming of the meeting, have reiterated their demand for the removal of top health department officials, including the state health secretary and Kolkata Police Commissioner, sources said.
Earlier in the day, the junior doctors reached Mamata Banerjee's home after the Chief Minister's "fifth and final" invitation for the meeting.
Mamata Banerjee's fifth invite to the protesting junior doctors came two days after a previous meeting failed to take place due to disagreement over live-streaming.
"This is the fifth and final time we are reaching out to you for a meeting between the Honourable Chief Minister and your delegates. In line with our discussion from the day before, we are once again inviting you to a meeting with the Honourable Chief Minister at her Kalighat residence for a discussion with an open mind," West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant's letter to the doctors read.
The protesting doctors said they were willing to hold talks if the minutes of the meeting were allowed to be recorded by both parties. The state government, which has so far rejected the demand for live-streaming, has agreed to share the minutes of the meeting with the doctors.
The government has invited the same delegation of doctors who met the Chief Minister at her Kalighat home on September 14.
A delegation of protesting doctors briefly met Mamata Banerjee at her residence on September 14 as they continued their protests, demanding justice for the gruesome rape-murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at the RG Kar hospital. It came after she made a surprise visit to the protest site near Swasthya Bhavan the same day, and assured the doctors their demands would be addressed.
The doctors have been staging a sit-in outside Swasthya Bhavan since September 10 with a host of demands, including better security at state-run hospitals and the removal of top officials over the trainee doctor's rape and murder, which sparked nationwide protests.
The chief minister allows the two stenographers accompanying the junior doctors to be present at the meeting to record the minutes.
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