New Delhi – Chief Minister of India’s eastern state of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee on Thursday issued an ultimatum to striking doctors to get back to work, officials said.
The doctors in the state are on strike since on Tuesday in protest to an attack on their colleague.
The strike of junior doctors in hospitals has badly affected services at government hospitals across the state.
The outdoor patient departments (OPD) at government hospitals were shut from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (local time) because of the strike.
Patients said the doctors’ strike has caused a lot of inconvenience to them.
On Thursday, the chief minister visited the state-run SSKM hospital in Kolkata where she asked the agitating junior doctors to return to work within four hours.
However, she was met with slogans “we want justice.’’
“They (doctors) are outsiders. The government will not support them in any way.
“I condemn the doctors who have gone on strike. Policemen die in the line of duty but the police don’t go on a strike,’’ the chief minister said.
On Monday a junior doctor at the NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata was allegedly assaulted by the relatives of a patient who had died.
The doctor suffered a head injury and is in critical care at a private hospital.
Following the incident, junior doctors on Tuesday went on strike demanding action against the guilty and asking for assurance of their safety.
The junior doctors also accused the police of inaction.
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