Doctors across the country began their strike at 6 am
Kolkata Rape-Murder Case Updates:
Doctors across the country have begun their 24-hour strike today in protest against the brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor in Kolkata.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has declared a nationwide withdrawal of non-emergency health services for 24 hours beginning at 6 am, over a week after the horrific incident at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
All essential services will be maintained and casualties will be manned, the IMA said in a statement. The routine OPDs will not function and elective surgeries will not be conducted.
The withdrawal is across all sectors, wherever modern medicine doctors are providing service, the top body of doctors said.
The IMA has put forth five demands, including a significant policy to address violence against doctors and hospitals. The doctors’ body is pushing for a Central Act that would incorporate the amendments made in 2023 to the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 into the proposed Hospital Protection Bill of 2019. This move, it said, would strengthen the existing legislation in 25 states. The IMA has suggested that an ordinance similar to the one enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic would be appropriate in this situation.
The IMA has also demanded that hospitals be declared safe zones with the first step being mandatory security entitlements. “The security protocols of all hospitals should be no less than (that of) an airport. Declaring the hospitals as safe zones with mandatory security entitlements is the first step. CCTVs, deployment of security personnel, and the protocols can follow,” it said in the statement.
The IMA has demanded a thorough overhaul of the working and living conditions of resident doctors, including the 36-hour duty shift that the victim was in and the lack of safe spaces to take a rest.
The IMA has also called for a “meticulous and professional” investigation of the Kolkata horror in a specific time frame and rendering of justice besides identifying those involved in the vandalism of the hospital premises and awarding exemplary punishment.
The doctors’ body has also sought an appropriate and dignified compensation to the bereaved family commensurate with the cruelty inflicted.
Kolkata Rape, CV Ananda Bose, RG Kar Hospital: “Vandals, Scandals Marring Civic Life In Bengal”: Governor On Kolkata RapeIn caustic comments directed at the Bengal government after the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a Kolkata hospital and the vandalism in the campus, Governor CV Ananda Bose has said “vandals and scandals” are marring civic life in the state.
Mincing no words in a wide-ranging interview with NDTV yesterday, the West Bengal governor held Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee responsible for the situation in the state, claimed women medical students have told him that their families want them to leave the profession, and said it was disheartening that such incidents were taking place in a land where one of its most illustrious sons had spoken of the mind being without fear.
A 31-year old trainee doctor was raped and murdered last week inside a medical college in Kolkata where she worked, triggering nationwide protests among doctors.
Anger at the failure of tough laws to deter a rising tide of violence against women has fuelled widespread protests by doctors and women’s groups across the country.
According to the IMA, all essential services will be maintained and casualties will be manned. The routine OPDs will not function and elective surgeries will not be conducted.
The withdrawal is across all sectors, wherever modern medicine doctors are providing service, the top body of doctors said in a statement.
Doctors across the country have begun their 24-hour strike in protest against the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor in Kolkata.
#WATCH | Tamil Nadu: Resident Doctors Associations of Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and Madras Medical College organise a boycott protest in Chennai against the incident of rape and murder of a woman doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata. pic.twitter.com/mtJty3AM1D
– ANI (@ANI) August 17, 2024
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has declared a nationwide withdrawal of non-emergency health services for 24 hours beginning at 6 am, over a week after the horrific incident at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
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