Kolkata rape-murder: Mamata Banerjee removes Police Commissioner, top health officials; medics rejoice 'victory'

Accepting the bulk of the fivepoint charter of demand placed by the agitating junior doctors West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced her decision to transfer a section of Kolkata Police and the state health department top brass including CP Vineet Goyal from their respective positions reported news agency PTIBanerjee also announced the removal of the Director of Medical Education DME and the Director of Health Services DHS besides the Deputy Commissioner North Division who allegedly offered money to the parents of the Kolkata rapemurder victimWe will announce the name of the new police commissioner after 4 pm on Tuesday after the scheduled hearing in Supreme Court gets over West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said at the stroke of midnight after concluding her meeting with the agitating junior doctors at her Kalighat residence barely hours ahead of the scheduled Supreme Court hearing on the RG Kar hospital matter reported PTIThe decisions were formalised in the minutes of the meeting which was signed by Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and countersigned by the delegation of 42 doctors who participated in the talks to end the RG Kar hospital deadlockThe agitating doctors are on cease work across the state for 38 days since the gruesome alleged rape and murder of the postgraduate intern at RG Kar hospital came to light on August 9 crippling staterun healthcare deliveryWe have accepted almost all demands of the doctors Keeping in mind the plight of the common people we did the best we could I now appeal to the doctors to return to work Banerjee said confirming no disciplinary action would be taken against the agitating doctors reported PTIDeeming the decisions as the state bowing its head before the pressure of a movement and a victory of the masses the doctors however said they would continue their protests till the words get converted into concrete action reported PTIWe will decide on what our next step would be after the hearing at the Apex court and after we confirm the government issuing those transfer orders it has promised announced Dr Debasish Halder one of the leaders from the sitin before Swasthya Bhawan which is continuing for a week amid inclement weather reported PTIWhile the CM has accepted our demand to remove the CP DC North the DHS and DME she is yet to agree on removing the principal secretary of the health department or the DC Central The discussions on the operating threat syndicate in hospitals and the thriving corruption racket remain incomplete We only have verbal assurances on those matters so far So our fight is far from over added Dr Aniket Mahato another leader reported PTIThe signed minutes of the meeting documented a sanction of Rs 100 crore for infrastructure development in hospitals for doctors and rebuilding of patient welfare committees as more inclusive with stakeholdersTo tackle safetysecurity measures in hospitals a special task force headed by the chief secretary and having as members the home secretary DGP CP Kolkata and representatives of junior doctors the minutes statedIt also documented the setting up of an effective and responsive grievance redressal mechanism in medical infrastructure across hospitals and colleges of the stateSuch measures are ineffective until a democratic work atmosphere returns to hospitals with simultaneous uprooting of threats and corruption nexus an agitating doctor said reported PTIEarly morning celebrations with protestors playing drums and blowing conch shells were witnessed at the Swasthya Bhawan agitation siteEarlier on Monday talks between the state government and the agitating junior doctors began at around 650 pm after four unsuccessful previous bids to initiate a dialogue to resolve the deadlock The meeting lasted for about two hoursIt took another three hours to complete the process of finalising the minutes of the meeting in the presence of the state chief secretaryPrevious attempts to resolve the issue got stuck due to the state governments rejection of the doctors demand for livestreaming and video recordings of the meetingThe agitating medics later agreed to a compromise now only asking to record the minutes of the meeting and receive a signed copyThe state government also allowed the two stenographers accompanying the agitating doctors inside the venue to record the minutes of the meetingMeanwhile the doctors continued their sitin outside Swasthya Bhawan the headquarters of the Health Department for eight days and the cease work for the 38th day seeking justice for the Kolkata rapemurder victim and demanding removal of top police and health officialsThe talks fructified after the state government for the fifth and the final time invited the protesting doctors for talks to end the impasse two days after the dialogue failed to take off over disagreement on livestreaming of the meeting reported PTIOn Saturday Banerjee made a surprise visit to the protest site and assured the doctors that their demands would be addressedHowever the proposed meeting fell through when the protesters claimed they were asked to leave unceremoniously after waiting for three hours at the gates of the CMs residenceIn the Capital senior doctors of RG Kar Medical College alleged tampering of evidence in the Kolkata rapemurder case reported PTIIn a statement the doctors demanded that they want authorities concerned the CBI and the Supreme Court expedite the investigation process and punish the culprits without any delayWith inputs from PTI