The junior doctors in West Bengal protesting against the rape and murder of their colleague have warned that all medics in the state will hold a strike on October 22 if their demands for safety measures in medical institutions are not met, PTI reported on Saturday.

Their agitation began in response to the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9.

The medics said that they have given October 21 as the deadline for the West Bengal government to meet their demands.

“We want the Chief Minister [Mamata Banerjee] to sit for a discussion and implement all our demands,” Debasish Halder, a protesting junior doctor, told reporters. “Unless this is done, all the junior and senior doctors of both government and private healthcare facilities will be forced to go on strike on Tuesday.”

The protesting doctors in West Bengal also said that they were in talks with their colleagues in other states and that the proposed strike on October 22 may take place across the country, PTI reported.

Haldar was quoted as saying that the doctors were not against the interest of the public and had therefore ended their “cease work” strike earlier.

The junior medics had on October 5 withdrawn their “cease work” strike and launched an indefinite hunger strike, saying that their safety demands had not been met by the Trinamool Congress government in the state.

“Our colleagues are holding a fast-unto-death,” Haldar was quoted as saying on Friday. “If the chief minister does not act by Monday, we will be forced to go on a strike on Tuesday.”

On Saturday evening, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged the doctors to withdraw the hunger strike and invited the medics for a meeting on Monday.

For more than 40 days 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 seek increased police protection in hospitals and the hiring of permanent female police personnel, among other requests.

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.

The state government had on September 17 accepted a key demand of the protestors and announced the removal of Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal and Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Abhishek Gupta, along with some government officials, from their posts.

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