Indian doctors call for nationwide shutdown of services after brutal rape

[August 16, 2024]  By Shilpa Jamkhandikar and Subrata Nag Choudhary
 
MUMBAI/KOLKATA (Reuters) -An association of Indian doctors called for more than a million colleagues nationwide to provide only essential services on Saturday, in a protest over the brutal rape and murder of a medic that is set to be the biggest such strike in recent times. 

A woman holds a candle as she attends a candlelight vigil held outside Jadavpur University campus, condemning the rape and murder of a trainee medic at a government-run hospital in Kolkata, India, August 15, 2024. REUTERS/Sahiba Chawdhary/File Photo

Anger over the crime showed no signs of dying down a week after the 31-year-old doctor was found dead on a blood-soaked mattress in the medical college where she worked in the eastern city of Kolkata.

She had settled down for a short nap on a carpet in a college lecture hall after working for nearly 20 hours of a 36-hour shift, staff at the R G Kar Medical College told Reuters.

Anger at the failure of tough laws to deter a rising tide of violence against women has fuelled protests by doctors and women's groups.

"The emotions are different this time," R V Asokan, the president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), the largest grouping of practitioners, with 400,000 members, told Reuters.

"Women form the majority of our profession in this country. Time and again, we have asked for safety for them."

Late on Thursday, the IMA called on practicing doctors in India, a figure it estimates to exceed a million, to shut down all services nationwide, except emergency departments, for 24 hours from Saturday morning.

Political parties, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in the opposition in the state of West Bengal, whose capital is Kolkata, said they would hold protests in the city on Friday.

Bollywood actors, other celebrities and politicians have voiced shock at the crime, calling for stricter punishment for perpetrators.

A low-earning police volunteer, designated to help local police officers and their families who needed to be admitted to the hospital, has been arrested and charged with the crime, but protesters say that is not enough.

Doctors say the circumstances of the rape highlight the vulnerability of medics left without proper protection and facilities.

Tougher sentences were among sweeping changes made to the criminal justice system after the 2012 gang-rape of a 23-year-old student in a moving bus that sparked similar protests and outrage, but campaigners say little has changed since.

The health ministry issued guidelines on Friday setting a six-hour deadline for the heads of state-run hospitals and medical colleges to report incidents of violence against health care workers.

(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar and Subrata Nag Choudhary; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Clarence Fernandez)

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