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Kolkata: Hospitals and clinics across India on Saturday refused to admit patients except for emergencies as medical staff 24-hour closure protest Rape and murder of a doctor A similar incident occurred in the eastern city of Kolkata this month.
More than a million doctors are expected to join the strike, paralyzing health services in the world’s most populous country. Hospitals say medical school faculty are being forced to help deal with emergencies.
The government urged doctors to return to work in the public interest in a statement issued after a meeting with medical association representatives on Saturday. The government will set up a committee to make recommendations on improving protection for medical staff.
In response, the Indian Medical Association said it was studying the government’s proposal but did not cancel the strike, which was scheduled to end at 6 a.m. local time on Sunday.
The strike is the latest response to the killing of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at the Kolkata Medical College where he worked last week.
The crime has sparked nationwide protests by medical workers and public anger over violence against women, bringing back memories of the infamous gang rape and killing of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi in 2012.
According to the Indian Medical Association (IMA), the strike has led to disruption of elective medical procedures and outpatient consultation services.
According to news agency ANI, a heavy police presence was deployed outside the site of the RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata where the woman was killed, while the hospital itself was deserted.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has supported protests across the state, which includes Kolkata, and her government late Saturday announced measures to improve safety for women working the night shift, including designated restrooms and safe zones monitored by cameras.
It also asked private agencies to consider measures such as night patrols to provide a safer working environment for women.
The Indian Central Bureau of Investigation has currently detained a suspect in the case.
As part of its investigation, the CBI has summoned several medical students from the college and questioned the hospital’s principal on Friday, Kolkata police sources said.
Protests broke out throughout the day in Kolkata, involving doctors, civil society members and political leaders, and a large number of private clinics and diagnostic centers were closed.
Sandip Saha, a private pediatrician in the city, told Reuters he would not see patients unless it was an emergency.
Hospitals and clinics in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Guwahati in Assam, Chennai in Tamil Nadu and other cities have joined the strike, which will be one of the largest shutdowns of hospital services in recent years.
Hospital patients queue
Patients lined up at hospitals, some unaware they could not get medical care.
“I spent 500 rupees ($6) to come here. My feet, head and other parts of my body are paralyzed and I have a burning sensation,” an unnamed patient at SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack, Odisha, told a local TV station.
“We didn’t know there was a strike. What can we do? We have to go home.”
Raghunath Sahu, 45, who was standing in a queue at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, told Reuters that the daily quota set by doctors for seeing patients ended before noon.
“I came with my sick grandmother. They were not able to see her today. I have to wait till another day to try again,” said Sahu.
India’s government overhauled its criminal justice system after the 2012 Delhi gang rape, including tougher penalties, but activists say the reforms have made little progress and not enough has been done to stop violence against women.
“In this country, the majority of nurses are women. We have asked time and again for their safety,” RV Asokan, president of the International Council of Nurses, told Reuters on Friday.
The IMA called for further legal measures to better protect health care workers from violence.
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