More than 4,500 Chhattisgarh doctors join nationwide protest

Raipur, Aug 17 (PTI) More than 4,500 doctors in Chhattisgarh on Saturday went on a 24-hour strike as part of the nationwide protest against the brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata.

The protest which started at 6 am affected medical services except the emergency ones in major hospitals across the state.

“As a part of the nationwide protest call given by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), more than 4,500 government and private doctors have stopped their services in the state. No patients except those in need of emergency service will be attended till 6 on Sunday morning,” said Dr Rakesh Gupta, president of the IMA’s Raipur branch.

“We want the government to pay heed to our demands and introduce a law that will ensure protection for healthcare professionals from violence at workplace,” he told PTI.

On Friday evening, members of the Junior Doctors Association, Indian Dental Association, Chhattisgarh Nursing Staff Association, Indian Physiotherapist Association, Pharmacist Association, Medical Representative and students of medical colleges along with IMA Raipur members took out a candle march in Telibandha area.

Before the march, IMA Raipur submitted a memorandum of demands addressed to the Governor to a district official, Dr Gupta said.

The memorandum drew the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Health Minister J P Nadda to the need for a central law to ensure protection for doctors in workplace, he added.

Doctors and healthcare workers also staged sit-in protests outside hospitals in many places.

Dr Mukesh Kumar Hela, civil surgeon at the Gariaband district hospital, said the 24-hour “symbolic strike” was for seeking justice for the Kolkata incident victim, and demanding enhanced security for healthcare workers so that such incidents do not occur again anywhere in the country.