Doctors All over India Gather for a Nationwide Strike
The junior doctors in Kolkata began protesting when their colleague was assaulted by a patient’s relatives who died. The protests that first began on Tuesday in Kolkata have affected the health system in the state including emergency wards and outdoor facilities.
Doctors spread across India have decided to come together for a nationwide strike in solidarity with protesting doctors in Kolkata. Members of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has called the strike.
Hospitals from various states have decided to join the strike today. AIIMS Delhi will be on strike from 12 noon to 6 am tomorrow. An AIIMS resident doctor briefed the media in the morning posing several questions to the public and media. He stated that doctors need a central act that will protect their lives. He asked, “Are doctors’ lives not valuable?” He added, “How can we work with our own lives at stake?” The doctor made it clear that doctors will not work under these dangerous circumstances and demanded justice.
The situation is grim in Kolkata, with patients and their families fuming, as doctors are refusing to treat any patients today. After initial indifferences with the doctors, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has decided to meet the protesting doctors of NRS Medical College at 3 PM today. Through an official letter, the Bengal government said that two reps from 14 medical colleges should present themselves at the state secretariat- Nabanna.
In Karnataka, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy stated that he condemns the strike on doctors however he has requested doctors to ensure that the “strike is peaceful and does not cause any problems to patients.”
The junior doctors in Kolkata began protesting when their colleague was assaulted by a patient’s relatives who died. The protests that first began on Tuesday in Kolkata have affected the health system in the state including emergency wards and outdoor facilities. 300 doctors resigned from government hospitals in Bengal. The protests in Kolkata gained momentum and began spreading to other parts of India.
The junior doctors earlier had put forward a six-point demand, which includes better security for doctors, action against those who assaulted the doctor and an apology from Mamata Banerjee who called the doctors on protests as “outsiders.” With the nationwide strike by doctors, medical healthcare services in most parts of India will take a hit on Monday.