The rape and murder of a young trainee doctor at RG Kar Hospital have sent shockwaves across the country. The IMA has called for a 24-hour strike on Saturday in protest. The central government requested the doctors call off their strike by offering to ensure safety. Still, the doctors' association is adamant in its decision.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also given a special promise to the doctors and medical students who are agitating across the country. Adequate security will be ensured in hospitals and all medical institutions, it said.
Representatives of the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA), Indian Medical Association (IMA), and Resident Doctors Association of Government Medical College and Hospital of Delhi met Union Health Minister JP Nadda at his residence on August 9.
The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry has said that a committee will be formed to ensure the safety of doctors and health workers in the health sector. Every state government has also been asked to advise the committee on security arrangements.
Keeping in mind the problems of all patients, the Modi government has appealed to the protesting doctors' unions to call off the agitation. After the vandalism of RG Kar Hospital on Wednesday night, the doctors' agitation has intensified. Doctors at Delhi AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital, and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital observed a strike. According to the IMA, the strike will be from 6 a.m. on Saturday, August 17, to 6 a.m. on Sunday, August 18. During these 24 hours, the doctors in the country will not provide any services except essential ones.
"All essential services will remain operational," the doctors' association said. Arrangements will be made for the treatment of the casualties. But the OPD will not function regularly, and elective surgeries (optional surgeries that are not a problem later) will not be performed. Wherever doctors of modern medicine provide services, services will be withdrawn in those sectors. The IMA is seeking the sympathy of the entire country for the legitimate cause of the doctors. However, despite assurances from the Center, they are adamant about the strike.
