More than 40 senior doctors at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Tuesday signed a mass resignation letter in support of the junior doctors in West Bengal protesting against the rape and murder of their colleague.

Their agitation began in response to the rape and murder of the 31-year-old trainee doctor at the state-run hospital on August 9.

On October 5, the junior doctors ended their “cease work” strike and launched an indefinite hunger strike, claiming that their safety demands had not been met. Six doctors from several medical institutions in Kolkata were participating in the hunger strike.

The senior doctors said that they were “giving mass resignation as the government seems to be oblivious of the deteriorating condition” of the medics on hunger strike, read the letter to the director of medical education and the ex-officio secretary of the state health and family welfare department.

“If the situation demands, we will also go for individual resignation,” it added.

However, they will not stop work immediately and would continue offering services to patients, The Hindu quoted an unidentified senior doctor as saying.

“Our junior doctors have been protesting for the past two months, and observing a hunger strike for three days,” the newspaper quoted the medic as saying. “Their health is deteriorating.”

The primary objective of the resignation letter was to send a message to the state administration for it to initiate a discussion with the junior medics, the doctor added.

“The moment our senior faculty members tendered their mass resignation, the principal of RGKMCH [RG Kar Medical College and Hospital], Manas Kumar Bandopadhyay, was called to the state secretariat,” The Hindu quoted Kinjal Nanda, a junior doctor, as saying on Tuesday.

For more than two months after August 9, the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front led protests demanding the resignation of several senior officials and an end to the “threat culture” in West Bengal’s medical centres.

They also sought increased police protection in hospitals and the hiring of permanent female police personnel, among other requests.

On September 17, the state government accepted a key demand of the protestors and announced the removal of Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Abhishek Gupta, Director of Medical Education Debashish Halder and Director of Health Services Koustav Nayek from their posts.

On September 21, the junior medics partially withdrew their strike and resumed duties in essential and emergency services at government-run hospitals. Their work in outpatient departments, however, remained suspended.

The partial withdrawal of the strike came after several rounds of talks with the state government.

However, the junior doctors had resumed their strike on October 1, demanding that the Trinamool Congress government address their demand for improved safety measures in medical institutions.

On Monday, Chief Secretary Manoj Pant urged the protesting doctors to end their hunger strike and resume duty, the newspaper reported.

The West Bengal government was “working towards improving the working environment of hospitals and medical colleges”, he added.