Kolkata rape-murder: IMA calls for 24-hr nationwide closure of non-emergency services

Says out-patient departments will not function, elective surgeries will not be conducted on August 17

New Delhi: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has announced a 24-hour nationwide withdrawal of non-emergency services from 6 am on August 17 to protest against the alleged rape and murder of a trainee woman doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata and the subsequent vandalism at the facility.

Essential services will be maintained and casualty wards operational, the medical body said in a statement issued late on Thursday night. Out-patient departments (OPD) will not function and elective surgeries will not be conducted. The withdrawal is across all sectors wherever modern medicine doctors are providing services, the IMA said.

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“Subsequent to the brutal crime in RG Kar Medical College, Kolkata, and the hooliganism unleashed on the protesting students on the eve of Independence Day (Wednesday night), the Indian Medical Association declares nationwide withdrawal of services by doctors of modern medicine from 6 am on Saturday 17.08.2024 to 6 am Sunday 18.08.2024 for 24 hours,” the statement said.

“Doctors, especially women, are vulnerable to violence because of the nature of the profession. It is for authorities to provide for the safety of doctors inside hospitals and campuses. Both physical assaults and crimes are a result of indifference and insensitivity of the authorities concerned to the needs of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers,” it said.

The call for the nationwide withdrawal of non-emergency medical services was taken after a meeting with state branches of the IMA.

The IMA on Thursday condemned the vandalism at the Kolkata hospital where doctors have been protesting since August 9 evening following the alleged rape and murder of the woman medic.

Earlier in the day, the medical association said, “Authorities, who by their negligence had allowed such a heinous crime to happen, have once again failed to maintain law and order when an all-important CBI investigation is going on.”

“Such vandalism with impunity points to anarchy and the breaking down of law and order. The IMA condemns this mindless violence and is apprehensive of loss of crucial evidence,” it said in a statement.

According to the Kolkata Police, nearly 40 people, masquerading as protestors, entered the hospital premises, vandalised property and pelted stones at police personnel, prompting the force to lob tear gas shells to disperse the crowd.

The miscreants carrying sticks, bricks and rods, vandalised the Emergency Ward, its nursing station and medicine store, besides a section of the Out Patients Department (OPD) at the hospital, police said. Several CCTV cameras in and around the area were also destroyed.

A police vehicle was overturned and several two-wheelers damaged by the vandals. Some police personnel were also injured.

The probe into the death of the trainee doctor was transferred from the Kolkata Police to the CBI on orders of the Calcutta High Court.