NEW DELHI: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said that her government is willing to accept all the demands of the agitating doctors and requested them to rejoin services as the stir entered its fifth day.

Calling the assault on a junior doctor at a Kolkata hospital an "unfortunate incident", Mamata said that her government is committed towards resuming normal services in the state at the earliest.

"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," she said at a press conference today.

Mamata said her government continously tried to find a solution to the impasse, but the agitating doctors refused to hold talks with her.

"We've accepted all their demands. I had sent my ministers, principal secretary to meet the doctors, waited for 5 hours to meet doctors' delegations yesterday as well as today, but they did not come. You have to give respect to the constitutional body," she said.

She added that even after five days of strike by the junior doctors, the state government did not invoke the ESMA (Essential Services Maintenance) Act or take any action against the medicos.

The chief minsiter's statement comes hours after agitating doctors turned down an invite for a closed-door meeting with her at the state secretariat, raising apprehension about their security. The doctors instead asked Mamata to visit the NRS Medical College and Hospital for an open discussion to resolve the impasse.

"We feel highly insecure and apprehensive regarding our representatives' meeting with the chief minister behind closed doors. That is why we are not sending any representatives to the Chief Minister's Office to attend the meeting," said a spokesperson of the joint forum of junior doctors after holding a governing body meeting.

On Friday too, the agitating junior doctors had declined to attend a meeting called by Banerjee at state secretariat, Nabanna, saying it was a ploy to break their stir.

The doctors, who are protesting against the assault on two of their colleagues at NRS Medical College and Hospital, had on Friday sought unconditional apology from Banerjee and set six conditions for the state government in order to withdraw their stir.

Meanwhile, resignation by senior doctors continued in support of their protesting colleagues. Over 300 medicos across various state-run medical college and hospitals have resigned from their services.

(With inputs from agencies)



In Video: Have accepted all demands of protesting doctors, they must rejoin service, says Mamata Banerjee