Doctors and medical students across India continued to protest on Friday to demand justice for a woman doctor, who was allegedly raped and murdered at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Junior doctors at Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital and RML Hospital in the national capital staged a protest against the rape and murder of a woman resident doctor in Kolkata.
Doctors raised the slogan of “We want justice” while protesting against the rape and murder incident.
Dr Akash from RML Hospital appealed to the doctors and common people to reach Nirman Bhawan in large numbers to peacefully put forward their issues in front of the government and seek justice for the alleged rape and murder victim in Kolkata.
“I appeal to all doctors and common people to reach Nirman Bhawan in large numbers so that we can peacefully put forward our issues in front of the government and seek justice for our colleague from Bengal who lost her life to this barbaric and gruesome act. We also want to tell our friends protesting in Bengal that they are not alone in this fight, all doctors across the country stand in solidarity with them… We demand a Central Protection Act from the government. Our protest will continue till we do not get assurance from the government that concrete steps will be taken,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Resident Doctors Association, Government Medical College in Amritsar, Punjab has announced the suspension of all non-essential and elective hospital services, including Out Patient Departments, Operating Theaters and wards, beginning on August 16 and continuing until further notice.
They also announced the suspension of all non-essential and elective hospital services on Friday.
Doctors have been staging protests outside Guru Nanak Dev Hospital in Amritsar.
The Kerala Medical Postgraduates Association (KMPGA) along with resident doctors associations of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), Dental PG Association, House Surgeons Association and Students unions of various medical colleges has called for a 24-hour strike in Kerala.
All Undergraduate and Postgraduate medical, dental and paramedical students have been carrying out silent protests inside the Nair Hospital premises demanding safe and secure environments in government medical colleges and hospitals. Outpatient Department services have been shut down.
Doctors of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital in Tamil Nadu’s Trichy have been protesting wearing black badges as a mark of protest.
“To condemn the death of the female doctor at RG Kar Medical Hospital and College and to further ensure the safety of the medical personnel, we are holding this protest. We request the central government to conduct an enquiry in a proper way and punish the criminals as soon as possible. The medical professionals must be provided with two-tier security this will also encourage more students to opt for medicines,” said Dr Aruleeswaran, Trichy Doctors Association.
A 12-hour general strike has been called in Siliguri by the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist). The strike disrupted normal life in Siliguri and most shops in the city were closed since 6 pm of Thursday.
A member of SUCI (Communist) Dr Shahriar Alam said, “Today this strike has a huge impact. People have spontaneously responded to our call and throughout Siliguri like the Medical College area, people have not taken out their vehicles, and they have not opened the shops. We can say that the impact is very good. We have called this strike to protest against the heinous incident at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.”
