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NEW DELHI: All OPDs and elective surgeries in government, private, and even corporate hospitals across the country will not operate for 24 hours on August 17 following a clarion call given by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Thursday to protest the brutal rape and murder of a trainee medical student in Kolkata.
The incident had sparked a nationwide spontaneous outpour of outrage, leading to resident and junior doctors shunning work.
The IMA held an emergency meeting with its state branches earlier in the day following the midnight mob attack on the protesting resident and junior doctors on Wednesday at the state-run RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata. It said that casualty and emergency services, however, will not be disrupted and will continue to function in all the hospitals.
Speaking with this paper, Dr R.V. Asokan, National President of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), said they have also appealed to the doctors working in corporate hospitals to withdraw their services from OPD and elective surgeries for 24 hours – starting 6 am Saturday to 6 am Sunday.
"We want the government to declare hospitals as safe zones and bring the Central Protection Act for healthcare workers," said Dr Asokan.
The IMA, the largest doctors' organization in the country with 3.5 lakh members, announced a nationwide strike on August 17, even as resident and junior doctors, interns, and even medical students further intensified their protest for the fourth consecutive day after news and pictures of the midnight attack by goons on doctors in the Kolkata hospital surfaced on social media. IMA also issued a statement condemning the vandalism, which they said "points to anarchy."
“Is this independence?” posted Dr Rakesh Bagdi Gurjar, senior resident at AIIMS, Delhi, in an apparent reference to India celebrating its 78th Independence Day on Thursday.
“Heartbreaking: Mob attacked our peaceful protest and vandalised RG Kar Hospital. Police quietly watches. But we will not be intimidated. We will carry on our protest. Join us, brave young doctors, take a bow,” he said.
Videos of RG Kar Hospital doctors, who were attacked and had to hide inside the hospital complex, pleading for their lives, surfaced on social media. It further united the resident doctors associations so much so that a leading doctor’s body, which had announced two days ago that they have called off their strike after verbal assurance from Union Health Minister J P Nadda that the government will work to bring Central Protection Act to curb attacks on healthcare workers, reversed their decision.
Agreeing that their call had caused distress and disappointment, the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) said they are resuming their strike with “renewed resolve” and announced a candle march on August 16.
Their calling off the strike had led to wide condemnation and backlash from resident doctors' associations (RDAs) of several hospitals, including that of the premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi and other Delhi-based hospitals, which severed their ties with them and announced that they are going ahead with the indefinite strike.
Apart from FORDA’s protest march, the Joint Forum of Resident Doctors Associations of Delhi announced a protest march on Friday afternoon outside Nirman Bhavan, which houses the union health ministry's and health minister's offices.
Dr. Rohan Krishnan, FAIMA national chairman, said they will continue their indefinite suspension of elective medical services nationwide. He also announced that they would hold a peaceful march on August 17.
The protest was not limited to India alone. A picture of a protest in Times Square in the US against the heinous crime was shared on social media and soon became viral. Dr. Dhruv Chauhan, national council coordinator of the Indian Medical Association-Junior Doctors Network (IMA-JDN), while sharing the picture on X, said, “The world has their eyes on RG Kar.”
Apart from resident doctors associations announcing that they will continue to shun OPDs on Friday, many states like Bihar, Rajasthan, and Haryana, and some associations in Telangana said they are entirely shutting up all essential and non-essential services.
For the fourth consecutive day of the indefinite strike, resident doctors took out processions, waved banners and placards, shouted slogans, and took out candlelight marches, braving heavy rain, to protest the brutal murder and rape of their colleague who was on duty.
