Junior doctors called off seven day long strike after holding a televised meeting with Mamata Banerjee

Following two hour long televised meeting with chief minister Mamata Banerjee, junior doctors in West Bengal called off strike. Assuring the doctors of adequate security in all hospitals—city based and in districts—Banerjee instructed senior police officials to appoint nodal officers for the security of doctors in all hospitals. The doctors demanded a ‘zero tolerance’ policy for the attackers who assaulted the junior doctors, and the state government agreed.

The move came after seven day long ‘cease work’ by thousands of junior doctors literally crippling the health services in all government hospitals across districts in the state. The strike also left some snowballing effect in health service sectors in other states as Indian Medical Association (IMA) called for a nationwide protest against violence in hospitals and also went for a shut down on June 17.

The delegation of junior doctors had 31 members, two from 14 medical colleges and a team of doctors. Chief minister Banerjee, Pradip Mitra , director of medical services, Chandrima Bhattacharya, minister of state, health, Rajiva Sinha, principal secretary of health department, Anuj Sharma, commissioner of Kolkata Police and other senior officers were present in the meeting. After the meeting, the doctors returned to the NRS hospital, which had been an epicenter of the protest and called off the strike.