Kolkata: Mojaffar Ali, a 19-year-old labourer from Beldanga, was travelling to the city in Lalgola Passenger last Saturday when he fell off the moving train near Bidhannagar station and sustained multiple injuries.
Ali’s plight was not an isolated case in govt hospitals across the city. Many patients and their kin, who support the cry for justice, have started pleading with the protesting doctors to normalize medical services and put an end to their woes.
Apurba Kumar Saha, suffering from chest pain and blood pressure fluctuation, came to Medical College & Hospital from Habra in an ambulance with his son and daughter-in-law. But he had to wait for long to get treatment. “If doctors continue with their ceasework, where will common people like me go for treatment? In solidarity with the RG Kar incident, I request the doctors to end their ceasework,” said the septuagenarian patient.
Piu Chatterjee of Basirhat looked tense outside the emergency as her mother had a cardiac arrest. “She was wheeled into the emergency ward. Senior doctors are attending to patients but there is a huge rush. The situation needs to be restored immediately so that common people like us, who cannot afford treatment at private hospitals, don’t suffer,” she said.
At SSKM Hospital and NRS hospital, patients’ kin pleaded for normalcy in medical services as well. Arka Gupta, a resident of Murshidabad, admitted his father-in-law to SSKM two days ago. “Since the senior doctors are managing everything, there’s nothing to worry about, but with fewer doctors, the workload has increased and treatment is getting delayed.” Nantu Das, whose wife has been undergoing treatment for cancer for two years at NRS hospital, added: “We support the protest by junior doctors. However, we will be relieved if they return to work now.”
