Doctors provide telemedicine services at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 31, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
As protests against the rape and murder of a female doctor at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH) crossed 21 days, protesting resident doctors from medical colleges in the city started telemedicine facilities for patients from Saturday.
According to an announcement by the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF), resident doctors will hold telephonic consultations for patients from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on a daily basis from August 31. They have named the initiative ‘Abhaya Telemedicine Clinic’, after the name given to the victim.
“There is a roster, everyday doctors from different medical colleges will go to RGKMCH to provide this facility,” said a resident doctor who is part of the initiative. The doctor added that they catered to over 500 patients on the first day.
Contact numbers
Telemedicine services will be provided via phone calls, video calls and messaging. Junior doctors have provided four WhatsApp numbers to contact the Abhaya Telemedicine Clinic — 8777565251, 8777569399, 8777579517, 6290326079.
Prescriptions are being written on sheets with the letterhead ‘Abhaya Clinic’ and a watermark that says ‘RG Kar-er bichar chai, oporadhchokrer binash chai’ (We want justice for RG Kar, and annihilation of the crime nexus). Doctors are signing the prescriptions with #JusticeforAbhaya.
Free health camps
Additionally, junior doctors of seven public and private medical colleges of the city, who are part of the WBJDF, will conduct free-of-cost Abhaya Clinic health camps across the city every Sunday. On September 1, the camp will be conducted in north Kolkata’s Kumartuli area, predominantly inhabited by the idol-making community.
Junior doctors from other medical colleges will conduct similar camps on Sunday in other locations in the city including Esplanade, Jadavpur 8B, Behala and Ranuchaya Mancha. All camps will be held between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Junior doctors said the health camp and telemedicine services would continue until justice was served and the agitation ended.
Protest on September 4
The WBJDF has also given a call for a protest on Wednesday, September 4, requesting everyone to switch off lights in their houses and establishments between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., and light diyas instead, to demand justice for the victim.
These initiatives follow 21 days of ceasework protests from August 9 by junior doctors across the State demanding justice for the victim and better safety for healthcare workers. In a public address on August 28, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged protesting doctors to resume work, adding that the government did not want to lodge police complaints against them that would severely affect their careers.
The Chief Medical Officer of Health of West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district sent notices to 29 clinics and hospitals in the district as well as 93 doctors at the State-run Midnapore Hospital, citing violations of the Clinical Establishment Act. The doctors from these establishments and clinics have been taking part in the protests.