Banerjee said that the state government had not invoked the ESMA even after five days of strike by the junior doctors and appealed to them to immediately rejoin service.
Even as striking junior doctors in skipped a meeting with Mamata Banerjee for the second day on Saturday, the West Bengal Chief Minister said that the state government had accepted all the demands of the protesting doctors and was ready to accept more, but they must resume work.
Banerjee said that the state government had not invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) even after five days of strike by the junior doctors and appealed to them to immediately rejoin service.
Junior doctors across all state-run hospitals in West Bengal are on a strike, demanding adequate security in medical colleges and hospitals after two of their colleagues were brutally beaten up at NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. The two junior doctors were assaulted on Monday night by family members of a patient who died in the NRS Hospital.
"We have the laws, but we do not want to use them.... We are not going to take any stringent action against any of the agitating junior doctors and hamper their career," she said at a news conference after the agitating doctors did not turn up for a meeting at 5 pm.
The agitating doctors had earlier turned down an invite for a closed-door meeting with Banerjee at the state secretariat on Saturday, and instead asked her to visit the NRS Medical College and Hospital for an open discussion to resolve the impasse.
"For the sake of humanity, I do not want to invoke the ESMA in the state. I want the junior doctors to resume work as we have accepted all their demands. Thousands of people are awaiting medical treatment," she said.
Under the ESMA, employees in a long list of "essential services" like post, railway, airport and port operations are prohibited from going on strike.
Banerjee cited instances of steps taken against doctors in similar situation by other states, adding that the West Bengal government had not taken any tough action against them as she does not want to hamper their careers.
"On Friday, I waited for the junior doctors for five hours. And today, I cancelled all my programmes for them. You must show some respect to the constitutional body," she said.
"The state government is fully committed to taking necessary steps. We have taken the decision to bear all the expenses of medical treatment of the junior doctor who is admitted at a private hospital," the TMC supremo said.
Banerjee asserted that she had cancelled all official engagements just to meet the agitating doctors but they did not meet her.
"I had sent my ministers, Principal Secretary to meet the doctors. We waited for five hours to meet doctors delegations yesterday and today, but they did not come. You have to give respect to the Constitutional body," she added.
"If the junior doctors think I am incapable, they can always talk to the governor or the chief secretary... or the commissioner of police," she said.
Terming the June 10 incident as "unfortunate", the TMC supremo said that her government did not arrest a single doctor and promised that no stringent action will be taken.
"We never arrested a single person. We will not take any police action. Health services cannot continue like this. I am not going to take any stringent action. Let good sense prevail. We want a peaceful resolution to the issue," Banerjee said.
"The state government is committed to resuming normal medical services at the soonest. The incident on 10th June was unfortunate. We had continuously tried to reach a solution," she added.
On the mass resignation of the doctors across the state, Banerjee said it was not legally tenable.
(With ANI inputs)
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