On the night of 10 June 2019, after a 75-year-old patient died at Nil Ratan Sircar (NRS) Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, a crowd attacked junior doctors and left an intern with a fractured skull. Junior doctors across West Bengal struck for a week, hundreds of senior doctors resigned and the Indian Medical Association (IMA) held a nationwide strike on 17 June. That night the strike ended after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met doctors in a televised meeting and accepted most demands.
Key takeaways
- Junior doctors across West Bengal struck work for a week. On 13 June Mamata Banerjee gave them four hours to return, cited the Essential Services Maintenance Act and blamed "outsiders" and a BJP and CPI(M) conspiracy.
- The strike ended on 17 June after a televised meeting in which Banerjee ordered nodal police officers and grievance cells in every government hospital.
- A 2019 draft central law was shelved after Home Ministry objections; in 2024 a Supreme Court task force said none was needed.
How it started
A 75-year-old patient died at NRS Medical College and Hospital, a state-run teaching hospital in central Kolkata, on Monday 10 June 2019. His family alleged that doctors had been negligent and had delayed attending to him The Logical Indian BOOM.
Later that night, clashes broke out between interns and people who came for the body. Two interns were seriously injured BOOM. One, a junior doctor in his internship, suffered a depressed skull fracture and needed surgery at the Institute of Neurosciences Kolkata Citizen Matters. On 17 June the institute's bulletin said he was recovering, with "no additional problems" on scans The Quint.
How the strike spread
Junior doctors at NRS locked the gates and stopped outpatient work on 11 June. Minister of State for Health Chandrima Bhattacharya said four people had been arrested The Logical Indian. A fifth arrest followed Scroll.
Doctors at other state hospitals joined. Emergency wards, outdoor clinics and pathology units at many government medical colleges, and some private hospitals, stayed shut PTI via The Quint.
The ultimatum and the "outsiders" remark
On 13 June Banerjee, who also held the health portfolio, went to SSKM Hospital, where junior doctors shouted "We want justice". She told them to rejoin by 2 pm, warned that hostel facilities would be withdrawn and said "The outsiders are coming here (at the hospitals) and creating a disturbance" IANS via Business Standard.
Medical services come under the Essential Services Act and the doctors cannot afford to do such protests. If the strike is not called off, we will be forced to take action after 2 pm.
Mamata Banerjee, Kolkata, 13 June 2019 (The Logical Indian)
She called the strike "a conspiracy by the CPI(M) and the BJP" and said the state spent "Rs 25 lakh" on each doctor's education The Wire. Doctors read the remarks as aimed at them. "How can she say that we are outsiders, urban Naxalites, CPI(M) cadre and BJP workers?" one asked, and they demanded an unconditional apology at NRS IANS via Business Standard.
Mass resignations
The NRS principal and medical superintendent resigned on the night of 13 June. On 14 June PTI reported that over 100 senior doctors, including heads of departments in Kolkata, Burdwan, Darjeeling and North 24 Parganas, had sent resignation letters PTI via Business Standard. Deccan Herald counted at least 450 the same day, including 175 at SSKM and about 100 at NRS Deccan Herald. Banerjee later said they had no legal standing Scroll.
The Joint Forum of Junior Doctors set six conditions, including the Chief Minister's direct intervention Deccan Herald. Shabba Hakim, a doctor and daughter of Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, publicly backed the strikers The Wire.
The national strike
The IMA held an All India Protest Day on 14 June and then a 24-hour withdrawal of non-essential services from 6 am on 17 June, keeping emergency and casualty open PTI via Business Standard. About 4,500 resident doctors in Maharashtra struck work on 14 June Deccan Chronicle. On 17 June nearly 28,000 doctors in Gujarat boycotted work, an official said PTI via Deccan Herald.
Timeline
Patient dies, interns attacked
Two interns seriously injured at NRS after a patient's death BOOM.
Four-hour ultimatum
Banerjee at SSKM sets a 2 pm deadline; doctors refuse IANS.
Resignations, High Court hearing
Senior doctors resign; Calcutta High Court declines an interim order LiveLaw.
"Accepted all demands"
Banerjee rules out ESMA and police action; doctors reject talks at Nabanna; Home Ministry seeks a report ANI via Business Standard.
IMA strike, televised meeting
OPDs shut nationwide; Banerjee meets doctors and the strike is called off that night PTI via Tribune.
Both accounts
Doctors' account
NRS doctors said about 200 people arrived in trucks and turned the hospital into "a battleground", and that police at the hospital could not control them Citizen Matters. Doctors said they wanted the attackers arrested and safety guaranteed, not a political fight, and rejected any communal reading of the attack Citizen Matters.
Police and state government account
Claim · Police Police said the intern was hurt by a coconut thrown from outside the premises BOOM. Government's position On 15 June Banerjee called the 10 June incident "unfortunate", said five people had been arrested and that she had waited five hours for doctors who did not come ANI via Business Standard. She said the state had "neither invoked ESMA nor cancelled anybody's registration, or arrested anybody", and that "Some outsiders are trying to provoke" IANS via Business Standard.
BJP leader Mukul Roy linked the attack to the patient's community and accused Trinamool workers of leading it, and Banerjee in turn accused the BJP of giving the strike a communal colour Citizen Matters PTI via The Quint. No evidence Neither side's conspiracy claim was supported by evidence in the reporting reviewed here.
Patient impact
For a week, government hospital OPDs across Bengal were largely shut. Hundreds of patients waited outside; some held their own dharna and tried to force entry Citizen Matters.
Claim · State and WBCPCR The West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights said children were dying for lack of timely critical care ANI via Business Standard, and Banerjee said "A number of children have died in the last few days" IANS. No official count of deaths linked to the strike was published in the sources reviewed.
The televised meeting and the deal
Doctors had refused a closed-door meeting; Banerjee agreed to live coverage by two regional channels The Daily Star. Two representatives from each of the state's 14 medical colleges met her at Nabanna on 17 June for about an hour and a half The Daily Star.
She told Kolkata Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma to post a nodal police officer in every hospital, agreed to grievance redressal cells in all government hospitals, and proposed alarms, a toll-free complaint number, collapsible gates at emergency wards and a limit of two relatives in emergency The Daily Star The Logical Indian.
After a general body meeting at NRS, the joint forum announced it was "temporarily" withdrawing the cease-work and would review whether the promises were kept PTI via Tribune. Junior doctors celebrated at NRS IANS via The Quint.
What the courts did
On 14 June a Calcutta High Court bench of Chief Justice T.B. Radhakrishnan and Justice Suvra Ghosh declined specific directions on a PIL against the strike. It reminded doctors of their Hippocratic Oath, urged a "reconciliatory mode" and told the state to protect hospitals LiveLaw. It also asked the government to keep the court informed of steps taken over the attack Citizen Matters.
A Supreme Court PIL filed on 14 June sought security staff at all government hospitals. On 18 June Justices Deepak Gupta and Surya Kant said the strike had ended and "there appears no urgency", and kept the larger issue open; the IMA sought to join the case ETV Bharat LiveLaw.
In the criminal case, a Sealdah court granted interim bail to all five accused on Rs 2,000 bonds, saying the case had not progressed much in three weeks; the prosecution had sought more custody Medical Dialogues.
The demand for a central law
The IMA's main demand was a central law against violence on doctors, with a minimum seven-year sentence Deccan Chronicle. Centre's position Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan asked Banerjee not to make it "a prestige issue", and on 15 June asked states to consider their own laws to protect doctors PTI via Business Standard. The Home Ministry sought an urgent report from the state UNI via India Blooms.
The Health Ministry then drafted the Healthcare Service Personnel and Clinical Establishments (Prohibition of Violence and Damage to Property) Bill, 2019, with jail terms of up to 10 years. The Home Ministry objected that one profession should not get its own law and that the IPC and CrPC were sufficient, and by December 2019 the bill had been put on the backburner The News Minute. Harsh Vardhan said it was still "under discussion" Medical Dialogues, but it was not introduced.
In April 2020, during Covid-19, the Centre amended the Epidemic Diseases Act by ordinance, later passed by Parliament in September, to punish violence against health workers during epidemics with up to seven years in jail PRS PTI via Onmanorama. In November 2024, after the RG Kar case, the Supreme Court's National Task Force reported that 24 states have such laws and "A separate Central law to deal with offences against healthcare professionals is, therefore, not required" Tribune LiveLaw.
Outcome
- Arrests: Five, all on interim bail by 3 July 2019.
- Strike: Seven days in West Bengal; 24-hour IMA strike on 17 June.
- Resignations: Over 100 (PTI) to at least 450 (Deccan Herald).
- State measures: Nodal police officers and grievance cells in hospitals.
- Central law: 2019 draft shelved; 2020 epidemic-only law passed.
What is still pending
No verdict in the NRS assault case was found in reporting up to 2026, and no central law has been passed. The 2024 rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College, also in Kolkata, reopened the same question and led the Supreme Court to set up the task force Tribune.
Questions people ask
What did Mamata Banerjee say to the striking doctors?
On 13 June she gave them four hours to return, cited ESMA, said outsiders were causing disturbances and called the strike a BJP and CPI(M) conspiracy. On 15 June she ruled out ESMA and police action.
How did the NRS doctors' strike end?
After a televised meeting with Banerjee at Nabanna on 17 June 2019, where she ordered nodal police officers and grievance cells in hospitals.
Were the NRS attackers punished?
Five were arrested within days and got interim bail by 3 July 2019. No verdict was found in later reporting.
Is there a central law against violence on doctors in India?
No general one. A 2019 draft was shelved, a 2020 law covers only epidemics, and in 2024 the Supreme Court's task force said a separate central law was not required.
Sources
- Citizen Matters: Doctors' strike in Kolkata, NRS Medical College, June 2019
- IANS via The Quint: NRS breaks into celebrations as Mamata accepts demands, 17 June 2019
- The Quint: Doctor who was attacked in Kolkata "recovering well", 17 June 2019
- The Logical Indian: Mamata Banerjee lashes out at NRS doctors, 13 June 2019
- The Logical Indian: Doctors call off strike as Mamata holds meeting, 18 June 2019
- BOOM: Doctors strike in West Bengal, 7 things you need to know, 14 June 2019
- The Wire: West Bengal doctors resign, strike spreads, 14 June 2019
- PTI via The Quint: Doctors' agitation a conspiracy of CPI(M) and BJP, says Mamata, 13 June 2019
- IANS via Business Standard: Mamata gives striking doctors 4 hours to resume duties, 13 June 2019
- PTI via Business Standard: Over 100 senior doctors of state-run hospitals resign, 14 June 2019
- Deccan Herald: WB: 450 doctors resign from govt medical colleges, 14 June 2019
- LiveLaw: Reconcile, Calcutta HC tells striking doctors, 14 June 2019
- Deccan Chronicle: Centre asks Mamata to step in, ensure stir ends, 15 June 2019
- ANI via Business Standard: Have accepted all demands, please come back to work, 15 June 2019
- IANS via Business Standard: Mamata appeals to doctors again, says ESMA won't be invoked, 15 June 2019
- Scroll: Mamata Banerjee urges doctors to call off strike, 15 June 2019
- UNI via India Blooms: MHA seeks report from West Bengal government, 15 June 2019
- PTI via Business Standard: Healthcare services in Delhi hit as doctors go on strike, 17 June 2019
- Deccan Herald: Doctors strike live updates, 17 June 2019
- The Daily Star: Doctors call off strike after Mamata accepts most demands, 17 June 2019
- PTI via Tribune: WB doctors end strike after talks with Mamata, 18 June 2019
- ETV Bharat: SC adjourns hearing on security of doctors, 18 June 2019
- LiveLaw: SC adjourns hearing of PIL for protection of doctors, 18 June 2019
- Medical Dialogues: 5 accused who assaulted NRS junior doctor get interim bail, 3 July 2019
- The News Minute: Home Ministry says no to bill to check violence against doctors, Dec 2019
- Medical Dialogues: We will resend bill on violence against doctors, says Harsh Vardhan, Dec 2019
- PRS Legislative Research: Protection of healthcare service personnel, April 2020
- PTI via Onmanorama: Parliament passes bill to punish those attacking healthcare workers, 22 Sept 2020
- Tribune: No separate central law needed, NTF tells SC, 17 Nov 2024
- LiveLaw: Separate central law not required, National Task Force to Supreme Court, Nov 2024