By Lucy Adautin
Hospital services across several Indian cities were severely disrupted on Tuesday as a doctors’ protest, sparked by the alleged rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor in Kolkata, spread nationwide, according to authorities report.
Video footage showed thousands of doctors marching in protest at a government-run hospital in Kolkata, demanding justice for the victim and calling for improved security measures.
The protests effectively paralyzed health services in West Bengal.
Today, the protest had expanded across the country, with over 8,000 government doctors in Maharashtra, including those in the financial hub of Mumbai, joining the strike. They halted work in all hospital departments except emergency services.
In New Delhi, junior doctors wearing white coats gathered outside a major government hospital, holding posters that declared, “Doctors are not punching bags.” They sat in protest, demanding a thorough investigation into the incident.
The protests left thousands of patients stranded as similar actions took place in cities like Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, and in Goa, a popular western tourist destination, leading to further disruption of hospital services.
In a letter to Health Minister J.P. Nadda, the Indian Medical Association, the country’s largest doctors’ group, highlighted the “pedestrian working conditions, inhuman workloads, and violence in the workplace” faced by medical professionals.
Despite the arrest of a police volunteer in connection with the doctor’s murder and the resignation of the medical college principal where the crime occurred, doctors remain adamant that their workplace environment remains unsafe.
Kolkata’s police chief, Vineet Kumar Goyal, confirmed to reporters that a case had been registered against the suspect under legal provisions related to rape and murder. However, the health ministry has yet to respond to requests for comment on the ongoing situation.
