Kolkata Rape & Murder: IMA Outlines 5 Demands as Nationwide Strike Begins

KOLKATA: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has called a 24-hour total stoppage of medical services in the country from 6 a.m. on Saturday, August 17, in strong protest against the brutal rape and murder of a trainee woman doctor in Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

On Friday, the IMA put forward five demands, among which were a complete review and improvement of the working and living conditions of resident doctors and national legislation regarding violence against doctors and healthcare facilities.

•The IMA is calling for a new law–by legitimizing the 2023 amendments on the 1897 Epidemic Diseases Act under the 2019 Hospital Protection Bill. It will bring protection to 25 states apart from the ones believing an ordinance of a temporary nature like the one during Covid-19 will suffice.

• The body, however, also mooted a full-fledged and prompt investigation of the crime, justice to the victim, and apt punishment to those who vandalized RG Kar hospital on August 14.

•The doctors' body opined that the hospitals should have security as strict as the airports, starting from making the hospitals safe zones. They further suggested having the addition of CCTV cameras and security personnel as part of the plan.

• The association sought a suitable and respectable compensation for the victim's family, appropriate in manner and magnitude to the atrocities meted out on them.

The IMA has declared that all doctors practicing modern medicine will stop work for 24 hours in the entire country. The OPDs and elective surgeries will remain closed during this period.

Thousands of doctors from all across the country walked miles together across cities in protest over the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor.

Protest signs were also held near Parliament in New Delhi while other big demonstrations occurred in towns like Kolkata, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.

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