Kolkata: The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front, an umbrella body of junior doctors across all medical colleges, has decided to start teleconsultation for patients from Saturday. The services, which they will call ‘Abhaya Clinic’, will be available from 10 am to 2 pm, the usual OPD hours.
Dedicated phone numbers would be used for teleconsultations, said doctors. The decision was taken late on Friday.
Earlier in the day, junior doctors had said they would not stop their movement. They had said they would go ahead with the plan to march to Lalbazar on Monday. They also demanded the resignation of the Kolkata Police commissioner.
“We will renew our demand of justice for our colleague on Monday. We are staying put with our cease-work for now,” said Aniket Mahata, a PGT doctor at RG Kar.
Junior doctors have been alleging inefficiency by Kolkata Police in the rape and murder probe, which has now been taken over by the CBI. They also questioned the police’s inefficiency in dealing with the vandalism at RG Kar.
“We hoped for a speedy probe by CBI but we are not seeing much progress. We are disillusioned with the pace,” said a PGT from CNMCH.
Sources said the junior doctors’ decision on cease-work would depend on the CBI’s report to the Supreme Court next week.
“We are also discussing how we can sustain our movement, which is now a mass movement, and prevent our demand for justice from getting diluted,” said Mahata.
On Friday, doctors and other healthcare workers from private hospitals, such as CMRI, BM Birla, Kothari, Woodlands, Narayan Memorial and Ekbalpore Nursing Home took out a rally in Alipore.
These healthcare workers said though they didn’t resort to cease-work, they would take to the streets on a regular basis to demand justice. The West Bengal Joint Platform of Doctors has also called for a procession from CGO complex, the CBI office, to the office of West Bengal Medical Council, both in Salt Lake, on Saturday.