Doctors go on a 24-hour nationwide strike across the country protesting the brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor. Indian Medical Association has launched a 24-hour closure of some services starting 6 a.m. today.
The IMA stated that the Kolkata incident exposed two types of violence in the hospital – first, the absence of safe spaces for women resulted in a horrendous crime and secondly there was hooliganism afterwards because no organized security protocol was in place.
The IMA pointed out that at policy level this reluctance to recognize violence on doctors and hospitals must change. Doctors, for instance, have submitted a list of demands to the Central government asking that all hospitals have security protocols no less than an airport; health centres should be declared as safe zones; all such places should be equipped with CCTV cameras and manned by personnel.
