Principal, medical superintendent of NRS Medical College resign over violence against doctors

Amid ongoing protest by doctors in West Bengal - principal and vice-principal of NRS Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata - where two doctors were attacked and seriously injured, have tendered their resignations.  

"Professor Saibal Kumar Mukherjee and  Professor Saurabh Chattopadhyay resign as the Principal and Medical Superintendent/Vice-Principal respectively of NRS Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata over violence against doctors at the hospital on June 10th," reported ANI. 

West Bengal: Professor Saibal Kumar Mukherjee & Professor Saurabh Chattopadhyay resign as the Principal & Medical Superintendent/Vice-Principal respectively of NRS Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata over violence against doctors at the hospital on June 10th.

— ANI (@ANI) June 13, 2019

"I express my deep regret for being unable to overcome the crisis prevailing at NRS Medical College since the evening of 10th June. In this situation I would like to step down from the post of Principal, NRS Medical College with immediate effect," the resignation letter reads.  

Meanwhile, the opposition parties has slammed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her alleged threats to the striking doctors and sought her immediate resignation as health minister.

The BJP, the CPI(M) and the Congress claimed she is behaving like Hitler and not interested to solve the impasse.

"Instead of expressing solidarity to the doctors, she is threatening them. He is behaving like an authoritarian, like a Hitler. This is shameful. She has failed both as the chief minister and the health minister. She should resign immediately," BJP leader Mukul Roy said.

State BJP vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said Banerjee was indulging in blame game instead of solving the problem.

"Is this a way to deal with the agitating doctors? Instead of solving the problem, she is blaming the doctors, the BJP and others. If she can't control the situation, she should resign as the health minister," Majumdar said.

He also criticised Banerjee for referring to Union Home Minister and BJP president Amit Shah during her speech at the SSKM Hospital on Thursday morning.

"BJP chief Amit Shah is encouraging his party cadre to create communal tension and run a propaganda on Facebook," she said and claimed that the doctors' agitation is a conspiracy of the BJP and the CPI(M).

"She is trying to hide her failures by blaming others. If she can't control the situation, she should resign and let us take over. We would show her how to solve such problems," Majumdar said.

State Congress president Somen Mitra also criticised the chief minister and said the state government should take appropriate measures to ensure safety and security of doctors.

"It is the duty of the state government to ensure proper law and order condition in the state. But at the same time we would also like to appeal to the doctors to resume the services as lots of poor patients are suffering," Mitra said.

Doctors across the state have called for a strike in protest against the attack on two of their colleagues at NRS Medical College and Hospital in the city by family members of a patient, who died on Monday night.

Services have been affected over the past three days in emergency wards, outdoor facilities and pathological units of many state-run medical colleges and hospitals and a number of private medical facilities in the state, leaving the patients in the lurch.