Mamata's nephew, Kolkata mayor's daughter join doctors' protest

Kolkata: Nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and children of two top Trinamool Congress leaders are among the doctors agitating in West Bengal over the assault on their colleagues.

Abesh Banerjee, son of the TMC supremo's brother Kartick Banerjee, is a doctor at KPC Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

With a poster in hand, he was seen at the protest in his college on Thursday and Friday.

Kolkata Mayor and state urban development minister Firhad Hakim's daughter Shabba, also a doctor, had on Thursday criticised the state government on social media for its alleged inaction in the matter.

"As a TMC supporter I am deeply ashamed at the inaction and the silence of our leader," Shabba Hakim posted on Facebook.

Referring to those who have been raising concern over the fate of patients in the wake of the strike, she said, "For those saying 'Ono Rugider ki dosh? (how are other patients at fault?)' Please question the government as in why the police officers posted in government hospitals do little to nothing to protect doctors? Please question them that when 2 truckload of goon showed up why wasn't back up sent immediately?"

"Please question why goons are still surrounding hospitals and beating up doctors? We have a right to peaceful protest. We have a right to safety at work," she added.

Baidyanath, the son of senior TMC leader and MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, also showed solidary with the agitators at NRS Medical College and Hospital.

"I stand with NRS. To hell with politics....I personally apologise to all the doctors if any unfair comments have been made against them," he said on Facebook.

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

One of them received serious head injuries and is currently recuperating at Institute of Neurosciences.

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 many patients in the lurch.

Banerjee, who visited the state-run SSKM Hospital on Thursday, warned the junior doctors of consequences if they do not rejoin work, but the defiant agitators have refused to abide by the order. They asserted that the protests would continue till their demands are fulfilled.

(PTI)