The West Bengal government on Saturday said the ‘mass resignations’ of senior doctors in support of junior doctors over their protest against the RG Kar rape-murder case, are generic letters that have no legal standing. It said they will not be treated as valid and must be submitted individually according to service rules.
Several doctors from state-run hospitals have submitted collectively signed “resignation” letters to the government seeking justice for the victim and in support of junior medics on a fast-unto-death to press for their demands.
The state government said the mass resignations are being interpreted as a symbolic gesture of solidarity from senior doctors with their junior counterparts. “Unless an employee sends in his/her resignation personally to the employer as per service rules, it is not a resignation letter,” said Alapan Bandyopadhyay, chief adviser to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Bandyopadhyay said the letters sent by the doctors were merely collective signatures without addressing specific issues. “Resignation is a subject between the employer and the employed to be discussed in terms of specific service rules. So these press releases or these bunches of signatures of people whose identities have not been spelt out in detail in all the papers… this kind of a generic letter has no legal standing. Each page has to be signed by the individual who is tendering such an important paper and the matter has to be seen as one between the employer and the individual employee,” he said.
He further stressed on the state government’s intention to clarify the situation amid confusion regarding the mass resignations by senior doctors from different government hospitals, including RG Kar Medical College, IPGMER and SSKM Hospital.
Several senior doctors, however, have already clarified that these letters are “symbolic” in nature and they have been attending to their duties so that healthcare services are not affected during Durga Puja celebrations. The government also said healthcare services at state-run hospitals have not been disrupted, as senior doctors continue to work normally.
Earlier this week, a group of senior doctors at RG Kar Medical College sent a collectively signed “mass resignation” letter in solidarity with their protesting junior colleagues. Subsequently, similar letters were sent by doctors from other state-run hospitals.
Junior doctors at several government hospitals in the state are on a fast-unto-death demanding justice for their murdered colleague, the resignation of the state’s health secretary, and enhanced workplace security.
(With PTI inputs)
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