The junior doctors across West Bengal have not joined their duties after 5 pm today as the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front has participated in a Swasthya Bhawan Abhiyan in front of the Swasthya Bhawan building at Salt Lake, Kolkata. They are demanding the resignation of the health secretary, the Director of Health, and the Director of Health Education (DHE).

Minister of State (Independent Charge) Finance Chandrima Bhattacharya said in the evening that the doctors were sent an email by the Principal Secretary of Health at around 6 pm urging them to join a meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the evening today. She informed the media that the Chief Minister waited till 7:30 pm at the state secretariat Nabanna but no representative from the junior doctors came to attend the meeting.

The health secretary Narayan Swarup Nigam had sent an email to the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front in the evening informing them that a 10-member team could visit the Nabanna for a meeting with the senior government representatives. The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front has sent no representative for the proposed meeting. They informed us that they are demanding the resignation of the secretary of Health and they would not accept the proposal for a meeting from him. The junior doctors have also said the language of the communication was disrespectful and insensitive.