New Delhi: Doctors protest for their safety following the incident at RG Kar Medical College, Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi on Monday, August 19, 2024. (Photo: PTI)
Several resident doctors’ associations continued their strike at major hospitals across India for the eighth consecutive day on Monday, citing unresolved safety concerns for healthcare professionals, amid protests over the rape and murder of a 31-year-old junior doctor at Kolkata’s state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.
All the resident doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, marched and sat outside the Nirman Bhawan, which houses the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to provide elective outpatient department (OPD) services.
“All resident doctors will provide elective OPD services of around 36 specialties (including medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, ophthalmology, orthopaedics and others) to patients outside Nirman Bhawan,” an official statement from AIIMS RDA said.
These protests came two days after the Indian Medical Association (IMA) held a 24-hour nationwide strike in protest against the RG Kar incident. The medical body also wrote to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, listing its demands, including safety in hospitals, a central law to protect healthcare workers and a proper investigation into the rape and murder case.
The IMA nationwide strike, which was joined by doctors from public and private hospitals, included the complete withdrawal of routine OPD services and elective surgeries, while all essential and emergency services were maintained.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the rape and murder case on Tuesday, after taking suo motu cognizance on Sunday. The bench will be headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud.
Meanwhile, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee “shameless” and demanded her resignation, alleging that crucial evidence was destroyed at her behest to save the guilty.
She also criticised leaders of the opposition bloc INDIA, including Congress’s Rahul Gandhi, calling them “political vultures”, alleging that they “generalised” the rape and murder of the junior doctor by expressing general concern over similar cases reported in different parts of the country, including those in BJP-ruled states.
“Mamata Banerjee has become Mamata the destroyer. By her misdeeds, she destroyed the dignity of a woman, a doctor who was serving the society. Mamata Banerjee is the destroyer of the rule of law and the Constitution,” BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said at a press conference at the party headquarters here.
“And look at the effrontery of shameless Mamata, the destroyer. She held a rally in Kolkata while the entire country was embarrassed by the horrendous rape and murder incident… She should immediately resign (as chief minister),” Bhatia said.
The former director was also questioned about who ordered the renovation of the rooms near the seminar room (crime scene) in the hospital’s emergency building after the incident. The central agency officials are also checking the details of his mobile phone call list as well as his WhatsApp chat list.
First published: August 19, 2024 | 19:45 IS
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