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The Indian Medical Association (IMA) late on August 15 called on doctors across the country, estimated at more than 1 million, to stop providing all services across the country, except emergency services, for 24 hours starting from the morning of August 17.
The move is in protest against the lack of protection for young doctors following the recent rape and murder of a trainee doctor.
Authorities have found the body of a 31-year-old female doctor at a medical college where she worked in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata. According to a staff member, she was lying on a carpet in the lecture hall after working nearly 20 hours of a 36-hour shift. Although the culprit has been arrested, doctors say that is not enough to deter and prevent a recurrence of similar cases.
Doctors say such incidents show that regulations protecting doctors and medical facilities are too lax, creating risks, especially for female doctors. Although India introduced tougher penalties after the 2012 gang rape of a 23-year-old student on a bus, those calling for strikes and protests say even such sanctions have made little difference to this negative social phenomenon.
So, a week after the latest incident, many doctors across the country are still expressing their discontent with the fact that women are still victims of sexual violence, despite strict laws being in place. According to RV Asokan - President of the 400,000-member IMA - the doctors' discontent this time is very different as the team of female doctors, who make up the majority in the South Asian country, are still not guaranteed safety at work.
Doctors are expected to protest in Kolkata city on August 16 local time.
Meanwhile, Bollywood actors, celebrities and politicians have also expressed outrage over the incident involving the female doctor, calling for harsher punishment for the criminals.
The Indian Health Ministry issued guidelines on August 16 stating that directors of public hospitals and medical colleges across the country must report cases of violence and sexual assault against healthcare workers within six hours.
