After the Supreme Court ordered the stoppage of agitation and protest in West Bengal, junior doctors continued their protest on September 10. They distinguished their actions as people’s protests and could not be disregarded.
A junior doctor weighed in and said that he/she who was part of the case was let down by the Supreme Court’s recent sitting. Even after the case was taken to the CBI, justice had not been served. The change of venue has been adopted, but justice continues to elude the people, they said.
In the case, the Supreme Court asked the doctors to resume work by Tuesday at 5 PM. Lawyer Kapil Sibal also ensured everyone that nobody who participates in implementing the order will be punished. He pointed out that because of the strike, twenty-three patients’ lives were lost, and approximately six hundred thousand and ninety-five patients were denied treatment.
Chief Justice DY Chandrachud also called for the doctors to go back to work, stating that we cannot afford to protest at the cost of duty. The Indian Medical Association’s Bengal branch also registered its disappointment, protesting the portrayal of junior doctors as carriers of death to patients while stating that the hospital services are not completely out of operation.
