Indian doctors are go on strike

More Indian doctors have gone on strike to protest the rape and death of a female colleague in Kolkata.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA), the country’s largest doctors’ body, has announced that all non-essential hospital services across the country will remain closed on Saturday. Indian doctors are go on strike.

The IMA described last week’s killing as “a barbaric crime due to lack of safe space for women” and requested the country’s support in its “struggle for justice”.
While a mob vandalized the hospital where it happened, protests against the incident and calls for stronger protections for women have grown in recent days. According to an IMA statement, emergency and casualty services will remain open during the 24-hour strike.

Group head R.V. Ashokan told “MACLISTEN” that doctors have suffered and fought against violence for years, but this case is “qualitatively different”. If such a crime can happen in a major metropolitan medical college, it proves that “doctors everywhere are unsafe,” he said.

Earlier this week, doctors at some government hospitals said elective surgeries would be suspended indefinitely.

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The IMA also presented a list of demands, including tightening laws to better protect medical professionals from violence, increasing hospital security and creating safe rest areas.

It demanded a “thorough and professional investigation” into the murder, the prosecution of those responsible for the vandalism and compensation for the woman’s family.

The rape of a 31-year-old female trainee doctor has shocked the nation.

Her half-naked body with severe injuries was found last Thursday in a seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College, where she was said to have gone to rest during her shift.

A hospital volunteer has been arrested in this incident.

After criticism of the slowness of the case, it was transferred from the local police to India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Since the woman’s death, several rape cases have made headlines in India, and “Prime Minister Narendra Modi'” has said that “horrific behavior against women should be severely and swiftly punished”.

The rape and murder of the woman has prompted a political blame game in West Bengal, with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing the ruling Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) of orchestrating the incident.

The TMC denied the allegations and accused “political outsiders” of fomenting the unrest.

On Wednesday night, hundreds of thousands of women in West Bengal marched to demand “freedom to live in freedom and without fear”.

Although the rallies were mostly peaceful, clashes broke out between the police and a small number of unidentified persons who barged into the crime scene, RG Kar Hospital and ransacked the emergency room.

So far, at least 25 people have been arrested in connection with the incident.

This led to protests in other Indian cities including Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune.

“It feels like hope is being revived,” protester Sumita Dutta told AFP as hundreds marched through the streets of Kolkata on Friday.