RG Kar rape-murder: Protests continue at Kolkata hospital, across nation
Times of India | 15 August 2024
Doctors at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata continued protests over the rape and murder of a doctor, impacting medical services nationally. Supportive actions extended from senior faculty and doctors across India, demanding better protection for healthcare workers. Even as the agitation by doctors at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH) in Kolkata -- condemning the rape and murder of the on-duty 31-year-old PGT doctor inside the hospital last week -- entered its sixth day on Wednesday, protests continued to stall a number of medical services in hospitals across the country.
On Wednesday, senior faculty members from different departments of RGKMCH reached the protest site on the hospital campus to express their solidarity while an IMA team met the protestors.
In the absence of junior doctors, seniors have been running the OPD, emergency and in-patient care for the past five days at RGKMCH. But on Wednesday most seniors too stayed away. Most doctors at private hospitals in Kolkata too stayed away from OPD services on Wednesday. Similar situation was witnessed across the country.
The doctors' protest in Telangana intensified on Wednesday as hundreds of junior and senior resident doctors across govt hospitals joined the nationwide call to boycott duties. From 8 am, doctors at prominent tertiary care centres in Hyderabad held a peaceful sit-in demonstration. They wore black badges and female junior doctors recounted their own encounters with criminal elements.
In Rajasthan, resident doctors at govt hospitals across the state decided to continue their protests even though the nationwide strike called by the Federation of Resident Doctors' Association was called off. Rajasthan doctors said they would continue their protest until the Centre agreed to enact a law for their protection.
Junior doctors at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital continued to boycott non-emergency services and participated in protests. On Wednesday, they joined a sit-in and protest march, impacting outpatient and other non-emergency services.