Doctors and medical students held a protest at AIIMS Delhi on Tuesday after the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) called for a nationwide shutdown of OPD services from Tuesday in solidarity against the sexual assault and murder of a woman post-graduate trainee (PGT) doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, on August 9.
Dr Indra Shekhar Prasad, President, Resident Doctors Association AIIMS Delhi, said, “This is such a serious incident. A woman who was on duty was sexually assaulted and murdered brutally. If such incidents happen at workplaces, how will the women work? We have several demands regarding safety concerns. We want a CBI probe into this, till then we will continue our protest.”
He further said that regarding the safety of the doctors, until there is no written assurance on the timeline of the Central Protection Act, the strike would continue.
Doctors and medical students at Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital also protested and demanded a CBI probe into the sexual assault and murder of a woman trainee doctor.
Doctors and medical students staged a protest in Mumbai and Nagpur also demanding justice for the woman post-graduate trainee doctor.
BMC MARD General Secretary Dr Akshay Dongardive said, “The woman doctor was on duty when she was raped. Post–mortem said that blood was oozing from her private parts. This is a major rape-murder case after the Nirbhaya incident. It puts us all to shame. We have joined in the nationwide protest. All resident doctors across all government hospitals in Maharashtra are observing suspension of services today. Emergency services are still operational, patients are not facing any issues.”
In Nagpur doctors and medical students staged a protest in front of OPD of Govt Medical College & Hospital (GMCH).
Dr Diksha Bajaj from the hospital said, “Doctors spend more time in hospitals than they do at their home. This is our second home. If we are not safe here, where will be safe? We demand our safety and nothing else. We are serving the patients but our safety is important too. If we are not safe, how will we do our work? We want justice. We will call off our strike, once we get justice.”
IMA has written to Union Minister JP Nadda demanding a detailed inquiry into the conditions enabling the crime as well as the steps to improve the safety of doctors especially women in the workplace.
The post-graduate trainee doctor was found raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.