How did Indian doctors’ ongoing strike begin?
A timeline of the protests in West Bengal, which have spread throughout India
Timeline:
June 10, 2019: Seventy-five-year-old Mohammad Syed succumbs to his illness at Nil Ratan Sircar (NRS) Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. Later in the night, allegedly, around 200 assailants attack junior doctors at NRS. Two medical interns, Paribaha Mukhopadhyay and Yash Tekwani, seriously injured. Mukhopadhyay rushed to Intensive Care Unit with a severe skull-bone injury.
June 11: Junior doctors at NRS go on an indefinite strike, demand adequate security for colleagues.
June 11: State Health Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya says four people arrested in connection with violence at NRS. Later, a fifth person is also held.
June 11: State Health Secretary Rajiv Sinha issues an appeal to junior doctors to resume work. Doctors turn down the appeal.
June 12: More doctors from across West Bengal join the strike.
June 13: Impasse continues. Hundreds of doctors in state-run hospitals across West Bengal tender their resignations from service.
June 13: Chief Minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee visits Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial (SSKM) Hospital in Kolkata and issues an ultimatum to striking junior doctors, saying they ought to resume work within the next four hours or else face eviction from their hostels.
June 14: CM’s ultimatum adds fuel to the fire as doctors all over West Bengal protest the chief minister’s “intolerance”. Doctors’ stir in West Bengal spreads all over India with medical practitioners at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi observing a token ‘cease work’. Doctors in Patna, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and several other cities join protests to support doctors in Kolkata. Civil society members and luminaries hold a rally in Kolkata, protesting attacks on doctors.
June 14: West Bengal Joint Forum of Junior Doctors (JFJD) issues a six-point charter of demands, foremost among which is that the chief minister must come to NRS and meet striking doctors. She must visit Paribaha Mukhopadhyay — the intern still in ICU with partial loss of memory and a threat to his eyesight. JFJD turns down the CM’s offer to hold a closed-door meeting at Nabanna — the state secretariat.
June 15: CM initially decides to visit injured Mukhopadhyay, but later scraps the idea. CM holds a press meet, says government accepts doctors’ demands, but insists that they must resume work immediately.
June 16: JFJD cites CM’s refusal to meet Mukhopadhyay, her insistence on staying away from NRS and her inability to ensure adequate security for doctors as the main reasons for their continued agitation.