16 Aug 2024 • The Indian Medical Association has announced a 24-hour nationwide withdrawal of non-emergency services from starting from 6am on Saturday, August 17, until 6am on Sunday, August 18 to protest against the brutal rape and murder of a trainee woman doctor at the state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata and the subsequent vandalism at the facility.

The medical body in a statement said that essential services will be maintained and casualty wards will remain operational. The IMA said that out-patient departments (OPD) will not function and elective surgeries will not be conducted.

The withdrawal is across all sectors wherever modern medicine doctors are providing services. This strike, expected to be the largest in over a decade, will close most hospital departments.

Amid protests and calls for better safety measures at hospitals, doctors are demanding a central law to be put in place for the protection of medical professionals. The Indian Medical Association (IMA), in its recent letter to the health ministry, said that while all 25 states have laws in place for the protection of doctors, the implementation is inefficient.

Source: AIR | Read full story