Indian doctors announce nationwide shutdown after gruesome murder of female medic

New Delhi: Indian doctors are set to withdraw their medical services on Saturday in an unprecedented nationwide protest following the gruesome murder of a female doctor at a medical college in the eastern city of Kolkata.

The 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered last week inside the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where she worked.

A police volunteer working at the hospital has been charged with the murder and arrested, but the case has triggered daily demonstrations by medics calling for greater protection and workplace safety measures.

The Indian Medical Association, the country’s largest organization of medics, said it would implement a shutdown of most departments, except essential services, for 24 hours from Saturday morning.

“We are asking for safety at our workplace,” Dr. R.V. Asokan, IMA president, told Arab News on Friday.

“The crime of a very heinous nature happened at a workplace and that, too, affected a lady doctor while the hospital should have been safe for her.”

There has been an increase in violent attacks against doctors in India, he added.

“Hospitals are attacked and doctors are attacked, so we have been on the protesting path for the past several years now ... the fear factor has been there with doctors all through the past two to three decades, but now it has been heightened,” Asokan said.

“Right now, the nation also feels it ... the brutal rape and murder has shaken the conscience of the country.”

Earlier this week, as doctors protested, the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital was attacked by a mob, which entered the facility and damaged equipment. No group was held accountable.

“There is a great sense of fear among doctors,” said Dr. Akshay Yadav, a member of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors.

“After the mob attack and violence, female doctors feel threatened and are in fear ... how can we save other lives if our lives are in danger?”