Kolkata, 13 Sept

Agitating junior doctors in West Bengal have written to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting their intervention in the RG Kar hospital impasse.

Copies of the four-page letter written by the West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front were also sent to Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar and Union Health Minister JP Nadda.

A post-graduate trainee was raped and murdered in state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on 9 August. Junior doctors have been on 'cease work' since then. "We humbly place the issues before your esteemed excellency, as the head of state, so that our unfortunate colleague who has been the victim of the most despicable crime shall receive justice, and so that we, the healthcare professionals under the West Bengal Health department, may be able to discharge our duties to the public without fear and apprehension.

"Your intervention in these trying times will act as a beacon of light to us all, showing us the way ahead out of the darkness that surrounds us," they wrote.

One of the agitating doctors, Aniket Mahato, told PTI that the letter was drafted earlier this month and sent on Thursday night.