The Shramajibi Swasthya Udyog (SSU)strongly condemn attempts by some political parties in West Bengal to give a communal colour to the agitation of doctors demanding an end to violence against them and stringent punishment for the perpetrators. SSU is a constituent of the Joint Platform of Doctors, West Bengal currently leading the struggle for justice.
The leaders of the BJP have falsely claimed that in most of the cases of violence the miscreants are from the Muslim community. On the other hand, the West Bengal Chief Minister has accused doctors, on June 13, that they discriminate among patients on religious line.
After analysing the incidents of violence against doctors in the last few years, we find the attackers come from both all religious communities. In most of the cases however, they were affiliated to the ruling party. In two cases, one in Alipurduar and another in Kolkata, the perpetrators of violence were police officers.
Since February 2017, when West Bengal enacted its new Clinical Establishment Act there have been nearly 235 cases of violence, including the horrific attack on junior doctors at the Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital on June 10, 2019. Out of these the culprits were arrested only in 5 cases and were let off under bailable sections of the Cr.PC.
The SSU also wishes to state that nowhere in the world, would doctors treat their patients based on their religious identities. We ask the West Bengal Chief Minister to retract her statement and the leaders of the BJP not to divide both doctors and patients along religious lines.
Apart from greater security to doctors in the current situation we wish to point out the solution to lack of trust between doctors and patients lies in much greater public investments and implementation of a Universal Health Care system – where high quality healthcare is available to all patients.
Dr.Punyabrata Gun
Shramajibi Swasthya Udyog (SSU)
Kolkata, West Bengal