Kolkata Horror: OPD, Non-Elective Surgeries Suspended Across India as IMA Seeks Justice for Abhaya

24-Hour Nationwide Strike Begins Today, IMA Puts Forth Demands

As the Indian Medical Association begins its 24-hour-long nationwide strike today, they have put forth five major demands that they are seeking to be fulfilled.

1. Firstly, the association is demanding a complete change in the living and working conditions of the resident doctors across the country; this includes lack of safe places for the doctors to rest and the 36-hour shift Abhaya was in.
2. The Indian Medical Association is also demanding for a Central act which would include the amendments made to the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 in the proposed Hospital Protection Bill, 2019. As per the association, this central act would empower the existing laws in 25 states and would improve the conditions of medical workers.
3. Questioning the security protocol at all hospitals across the country, the doctors' body has said that all hospitals must have security like it is at the airports; CCTV cameras, security personnel, mandatory security entitlement and specific protocols have been demanded.
4. With respect to the Kolkata Rape and Murder Case, the IMA has sought a detailed and professional investigation of the heinous crime within a limited time. The association is also demanding the identification and arrest of those who have vandalised the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital during the midnight protest on August 14 and a strong punishment for them.
5. The IMA is also demanding a respectable, appropriate compensation for the family of the trainee doctor who was raped and murdered in Kolkata.

Kolkata Rape and Murder Case: Latest Updates

• Doctors across Assam on Saturday joined the nationwide protest against the rape and murder of a doctor in a Kolkata hospital, demanding exemplary punishment for the culprits and a central law to ensure safety of medical professionals; out-patient and non-essential services came to a near halt in all hospitals.
• Doctors practising independently and in various private hospitals in Goa struck work from 6 am on Saturday to join the nationwide protest against the rape and murder of their colleague in Kolkata.
• Healthcare services took a hit across West Bengal on Saturday as doctors joined their junior colleagues in the cease work, demanding justice for the rape and murder at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
• Healthcare services remain affected in Jharkhand on Saturday as doctors joined the 24-hour strike called by the Indian Medical Association; IMA's state secretary Dr Pradeep Kumar Singh said health services would remain till 6 am on Sunday.
• AIIMS-Patna Executive Director and CEO doctor Gopal Krushna Pal told PTI that it has been decided to deploy more female security guards and install an additional 150 CCTV cameras on the campus, among other measures to ensure security of women following the horrific Kolkata Rape and Murder case.
• The 24-hour nationwide strike of the Indian Medical Association has begun today at 6 AM; the doctors' body has announced the withdrawal of all services across the different sectors of work.
• Emergency services to continue but the OPDs and elective surgeries have been halted.
• The National Commission for Women (NCW) Inquiry Committee identified lapses in security, infrastructure, and investigation concerning the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata last week.
• Calcutta HC condemns vandalism at RG Kar Hospital and calls it ‘absolute failure of state machinery’; says, ‘We will shut down the hospital’.
• Kolkata Police is continuously making arrests in the vandalism of RG Kar Hospital amid peaceful protests on Independence Day-eve. A total of 19 attackers have been arrested so far.
• The newly appointed Principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital lost her cool with the doctors and protestors; she went on to say, “If you can't trust me for one hour then send me home also. I need one hour to do some official work. You need to believe me, I won't go. You have to believe me. If you can't believe me then don't expect anything from me.”
• “In the doctor's team, many such topics have come up in their WhatsApp group, some screenshots of this have also reached us like drugs, racket, sex racket. The names of a TMC MP and his nephew are coming up again and again, I don't know what happened but something is wrong,” a BJP Union minister said during a press conference alleging the Mamata is trying to shield an MP who may be involved in the case.
• According to the post-mortem reports of Abhaya accessed by Republic Bharat, the victim's both eyes were damaged, blood was coming out of her eyes, there were nail marks on her cheeks, her lips were bruised, there was a red mark on her neck , finger nails of both her hands were broken, her ring finger (fourth finger) of left hand was broken, there was bleeding from her private parts and there were multiple injuries on her legs.
• A footage showed the miscreants wielding iron rods as they inflicted damage on the RG Kar Hospital. The incident took place amid midnight protests by women against the horrific rape-murder of the doctor at the hospital on the eve of Independence Day.
• West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Thursday described the vandalism at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital as a "shame to civil society," amid seven days of protests by junior medics over the alleged rape-murder of a trainee doctor.
• CBI officers on Thursday visited the residence of the doctor who was raped and murdered at a Kolkata hospital, and spoke to her parents as a part of their investigation, an official said. They took note of the time they received the call from the hospital, informing them about the death of their daughter and also asked them about her friends and life at the college.
• The TMC chief and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, has scheduled a rally from Moulali to Dharmtala in Kolkata today, asserting, “I want the accused to be hanged. I hope the CBI will give justice within next Sunday.”
• The accused, Sanjoy Roy, a civic worker, has been arrested and is in police custody till August 23, 2024; he confessed to his crime and told the police, ‘Hang me if you want.’ Investigation reveals that the accused has had a history of failed marriages and he used to watch a lot of porn.
• In the early hours of August 9, a 31-year-old trainee doctor's body was found in a semi-naked condition in the seminar hall of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. As per the autopsy reports, the victim was raped before being murdered, her neck was broken, multiple body parts including her private parts were bleeding and she was severely injured.