Kolkata: State health minister Sharadwat Mukherjee has called a group of junior doctors Maoist, saying that what they say does not matter.Mukherjee said this while replying to media questions on the alleged ‘selling of shifts’ by some interns at NRS Medical College and Hospital. The issue of interns replacing duty hours in exchange for money in the state-run medical college cropped up a few days ago. Mukherjee had earlier said this was found out during an investigation by the health department and that action was being initiated against those involved.“Duty was sold by some Maoist junior doctors. This was not case of replacement of duty. There are some junior doctors who are Maoist, Leninist and Marxists. They are minuscule in number. Please do not think that they represent the entire junior doctor community. What this handful of Maoist doctors say, do not matter,” said the health minister.Mukherjee, who is an oncologist, had participated actively in the RG Kar movement spearheaded by the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front. He was then not a political figure.The first friction with a section of junior doctors came to light during the Chorbagan stampede. Some interns at the state-run Medical College and Hospital Kolkata questioned govt’s move to shift the injured to Apollo Multispecialty Hospital from this tertiary medical college and spoke to the media about the lack of facilities in the medical college. Govt later ordered an inquiry to find out if the interns were holding a news conference during their duty hours.“These Leftists don’t believe in truth. They have a wrong policy, practice and culture. Those who talk big about reforming the medical community and seek justice for Abhaya are not coming forward when it comes selling of duty hours,” the minister said, indicating the silence of the junior doctors on this unethical issue of allegedly offering duty shifts for money.
