Polyclinics and non-essential operations are among the services that will not be carried out in the next 24 hours, according to the professional organization IMA.
It is expected that more than 1 million doctors and other health personnel will join the action, which started at 6 o’clock on Saturday morning.
– We ask for understanding and support from the country in the fight for justice for our doctors and daughters, says IMA’s leader RV Asokan.
The refusal to work comes after a 31-year-old doctor on duty was raped and killed last week at the medical faculty where she worked. A man, who worked navigating busy queues at the hospital, has been detained in connection with the case.
Huge problem
The murder triggered nationwide protests among health personnel, and several drew parallels to a much-publicized case from 2012 in which a 23-year-old female student was gang-raped and killed on a bus in the capital, New Delhi.
The protests from doctors and women’s groups are partly driven by anger that stricter laws have failed to curb the increasing violence against women.
In 2022, an average of almost 90 rapes were reported daily in India, according to the country’s statistics agency.
– Women make up the majority in our professional group. Time and again we have asked that their safety be taken care of, Asokan told Reuters.
– Nowhere to rest
Indian doctors are demanding that the government introduce a previously proposed law to protect health workers from violence.
– There is a lack of proper infrastructure, says 29-year-old Akanksha Tyagi, who studies medicine in New Delhi and participates in the protests.
– After working 24-36 hours straight, there is nowhere for us to rest, she says.
The 31-year-old doctor on duty who was raped and killed in Kolkata was in a hospital dormitory when she was assaulted.
Consequences
The fact that Indian hospitals are now stopping non-emergency healthcare services has consequences for the offer to patients.
At the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi, the city’s busiest, many who had turned up for a doctor’s appointment on Saturday were turned away.
50-year-old Shivdev Kumar traveled 20 kilometers with his daughter’s tuberculosis papers, only to find the doctor’s office closed.
– I had no idea they were closed, then I wouldn’t have come all this way, he says.
– Monstrous acts
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday demanded that anyone who commits “monstrous” acts against women be swiftly punished.
After the murder and gang-rape on a bus in New Delhi in 2012, the government introduced tougher penalties for rapists and the death penalty for repeat rapists.
The law was also extended to include stalking, and officers who refuse to register rape allegations now risk imprisonment.
In 2022, 31,516 rape cases were registered in India, but these numbers are believed to be high. A great many abuses are never reported.
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2024-08-19 16:07:04
