Guwahati, Aug 13: Stating that healthcare services have been affected due to the ongoing cease of work by junior doctors over the last few days, the West Bengal government on Tuesday appealed to them to resume work and restore normalcy for the welfare of the common people.

West Bengal Health Secretary, N S Nigam, reiterated that the state government is committed to a transparent investigation and strict punishment for the culprits. He also emphasised that the state government “upholds the dignity of the medical professionals”. “In the last few days, services have been badly affected across the state due to the absence of the resident doctors. We are receiving complaints from patients regarding unavailability of timely emergency care in some hospitals,” Nigam said.

The doctors have been on strike after alleged rape and murder of a 31-year-old second-year postgraduate student cum trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and hospital in Kolkata on August 9.

“We appeal to all the agitating doctors to consider the commitment of the state to proper investigation and proper arrangements (for security of doctors). They must return to work,” he said. The state government upholds the dignity of the medical professionals in the highest order and requests that normalcy in patient services should also be restored immediately for the welfare of the people of the state, Nigam said.

While talking about the incident, he said, “The government condemns the extremely unfortunate incident which has happened at the RGKMH. We strongly condemn it. We are fully committed to proper investigation.”

He informed that the CP (Commissioner of Police) is personally supervising the investigation and an SIT has been formed.

“We will ensure the highest form of punishment for the culprit. The parents of the victim are being regularly updated on the progress of the investigation. Due to the promptness of the police, the culprit was arrested within 12 hours of the incident,” he added.

Junior doctors across West Bengal continued their cease of work on Tuesday protesting the alleged rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor. The stir affected healthcare services as long queues of patients were seen at out-patient departments (OPDs) of all government hospitals since early Tuesday morning as senior doctors were substituting their junior counterparts to address the rush.

The agitating junior doctors, who have been pressing for magisterial probe into the killing of the woman doctor and removal of senior officials from RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, on Tuesday set a deadline of August 14 for the Kolkata Police to complete their investigation.

The body of the trainee doctor was found in a seminar hall in the hospital on Friday morning, and a civic volunteer was arrested on Saturday in connection with the crime. The state government has cancelled the leaves of all senior doctors to handle the influx of patients, mostly in the OPDs.

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