KOLKATA: Junior doctors across West Bengal continued ceasework on Tuesday, protesting the rape and murder of a woman doctor at a state-run medical college and hospital in Kolkata and demanding justice for her.The stir affected healthcare services as long queues of patients were seen at out-patient departments (OPDs) of all government hospitals since early Tuesday morning as senior doctors were substituting their junior counterparts to address the rush.The agitating junior doctors, who have been pressing for a magisterial probe into the killing of the woman doctor and the removal of senior officials from RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, set a deadline of August 14 for the Kolkata Police to complete their investigation.”The ceasework and protest will continue till our demands are met. We have been very clear about our demands. We want a judicial probe into the incident,” a protesting junior doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital said.”Why do they need a deadline till Sunday? We are asking the police to complete their investigation by Wednesday,” he added.West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, after paying a visit to the parents of the deceased on Monday, gave a deadline of August 18 to the Kolkata Police to solve the case, failing which she said she would hand over the matter to the CBI.The body of a woman doctor was found in a seminar hall at the hospital on Friday morning, and a civic volunteer was arrested on Saturday in connection with the crime.Till Sunday, junior doctors had attended to emergency duties, but from Monday morning, they stopped all work.The state government has cancelled the leaves of all senior doctors to handle the influx of patients, mostly in the OPDs.Talking about managing the rush of patients, an official of the state-run SSKM Hospital said that since most of the senior doctors were present on Monday, the pressure could be well tackled.However, some patients, scheduled to get admitted to different hospitals for surgeries, had to return home after they were given an alternate date by the authorities.
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