Kolkata hospital rape and murder case: Nationwide strike by doctors begins

The 24-four nationwide strike by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to protest the rape and murder of a resident doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar hospital began on Saturday at 6 am.

All medical services, except essential services and casualties, will be affected by the strike which will last till Sunday 6 am.

The routine OPDs (Out Patient Department) will not function and elective surgeries will not be performed across hospitals in the country where evidence-based medicine is practiced, the IMA said.

Doctors across cities have been staging protests on Friday, demanding justice for the 31-year-old trainee doctor who was brutally murdered.

The IMA, on Friday, came out with a list of five demands that include an overhaul of the working and living conditions of doctors including changing the the 36-hour duty shift that the victim was in and the lack of safe spaces in hospitals to rest. 

The forum observed that the crime and the vandalism that followed have shocked the conscience of the nation and added that both the medical fraternity and the nation are victims.

The association demanded that hospitals be declared safe zones with the first step being mandatory security entitlements.