MUMBAI: Anger over the brutal rape and murder of a doctor in eastern India showed no signs of dying down on Friday (Aug 16), as medics called for the largest shutdown of hospital services in recent times, and political parties geared up for protests.
A 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered last week inside a medical college in the eastern city of Kolkata where she worked, triggering nationwide protests among doctors and drawing parallels to the notorious gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi in 2012.
Late on Thursday, the Indian Medical Association, the country’s largest grouping of medics, said it would implement a nationwide shutdown of most departments, except essential services, for 24 hours from Saturday morning, the largest such strike in at least a decade.
“Doctors, especially women are vulnerable to violence because of the nature of the profession. It is for the authorities to provide for the safety of doctors inside hospitals and campuses,” the IMA said in a statement issued on X late on Thursday night.
