Hospital services have been disrupted in several Indian cities following nationwide doctor protests over the rape and murder of a trainee medic.
Thousands of doctors marched on Monday in Kolkata and the surrounding West Bengal state to denounce the killing at a government-run hospital.
Protesters are demanding better security and justice for the 31-year-old doctor, who was raped and found dead on Friday, police said.
The Federation of All India Medical Association said on Wednesday it will continue its “indefinite” strike.
The country‘s biggest doctors’ group, the Indian Medical Association, urged health minister J P Nadda to step up security at medical facilities.
“Pedestrian working conditions, inhuman workloads and violence in the workplace are the reality,” the organisation said. The health ministry has not commented.
Signs in Kolkata. Pic: Reuters
Police said a volunteer from one of their forces has been arrested in connection with the rape and murder.
A high court in Kolkata ordered the investigation be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation, suggesting authorities are treating the case as a national priority.
Doctors, paramedics and medical students protested inside the premises of R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. Pic: Reuters
Doctors in India’s crowded and often squalid government hospitals have long complained of being overworked and underpaid.
They say not enough is done to curb violence from people angered by the medical care on offer.
‘We’re not punching bags’
The latest crime led to more than 8,000 government doctors protesting in the western Maharashtra state – home to financial capital Mumbai – halting work at all hospitals on Tuesday, except at emergency departments.
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Protesters in Kolkata. Pic: Reuters
In the capital, New Delhi, junior doctors held posters reading, “Doctors are not punching bags”, as they sat in protest outside a large government hospital.
Similar protests in cities such as Lucknow, capital of the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, and in the western tourist resort state of Goa hit some hospital services.
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Emergency services stayed suspended on Tuesday in almost all the government-run medical college hospitals in Kolkata, according to a state official.
The government was assessing the impact on health services, it added.