New Delhi: Healthcare services have been hit across the nation as doctors responded to the Indian Medical Association's (IMA) call for a 24-hour withdrawal of medical services from 6 am on Saturday till Sunday.
Amid growing protests over the gruesome rape-murder of a trainee doctor at a Kolkata hospital, The IMA has called for a nationwide strike during which routine OPD services and elective surgeries will not be conducted. However, all emergency services will be functional.
The Health Ministry has requested the agitating doctors to resume their duties in the public interest and assured them that a committee would be set up to ensure the safety of healthcare professionals. Representatives of all stakeholders including state governments have been invited to share their suggestions with the committee.
OPD services at major Delhi hospitals remain suspended as doctors at Guru Teg Bahadur, Ram Manohar Lohia and DDU hospitals along with AIIMS continue their protest.
In Jharkhand, all government and private hospitals are taking part in the strike, IMA said. Multiple medical organisations have also planned to take out a march in Ranchi later in the day. A sit-in protest by doctors is on at Assam Medical College and Hospital, the oldest medical college in the Northeast.
In Chennai, doctors have organised a boycott protest while outpatient departments of both government and private hospitals have been affected across West Bengal.
The IMA's Chandigarh unit has suspended OPD services and will conduct a protest march. In Bengaluru, over 1,000 doctors will participate in a protest at the IMA office.
IMA, the largest organisation of doctors in India, has demanded an overhaul of the working and living conditions of resident doctors, including 36-hour shifts and safe places to rest. It sought a central law to prevent violence against medical professionals at workplaces.
In its statement, the IMA has put forth a list of demands to ensure that security protocols of hospitals "be no less than (that of) an airport". Hospitals should be declared as safe zones with CCTVs and higher deployment of security personnel, it said.
The nationwide strike comes a day after medical students across Indian cities conducted protest marches and staged dharnas against the alleged inaction over the horrific rape-murder that has sent shockwaves across the country.
Protesting doctors at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the horrific crime took place, have accused the police of mishandling the case and the ruling Trinamool Congress government of trying to destroy evidence to shield the accused.
The case is now being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under an order from the Calcutta High Court. "We have identified at least 30 suspects and have started questioning them," a CBI officer said on Friday.
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