Nationwide strike by Indian doctors over rape and murder of doctor in Kolkata | Protest news

Hospitals are being closed around the clock as protests to protect health workers and against the violence grow.

Hundreds of thousands of Indian health workers and their supporters have launched a nationwide strike to protest the rape and murder of a trainee doctor last week at a government hospital in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta.

Many of Saturday's protests were led by doctors and other health workers, who were joined by tens of thousands of other Indians demanding action.

Hospitals and clinics across India turned away patients except in emergencies on Saturday as medical staff began a 24-hour shutdown at 6 a.m. (00:30 GMT). Faculty from medical colleges were pressed into duty for emergency cases.

“We want justice,” protesters shouted as they gathered in Kolkata to demand better working conditions and treatment not only for health workers but for women in general.

“Hands that heal should not bleed,” read a handwritten sign.

The discovery of the 31-year-old doctor's blood-soaked body on August 9 at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital sparked angry protests in several cities across the country.

“We don't feel safe,” Antara Das, a medical student who joined the protest in Kolkata, told Al Jazeera. “If this happened in a hospital, which is a second home for us, where are we safe now?”

The murdered doctor was found in the seminar room of the university hospital, where she was working a 36-hour shift. An autopsy confirmed the sexual abuse.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA), the country's largest association of medical professionals with 400,000 members, condemned the “crime of barbaric proportions and the lack of safe spaces for women”, adding in a statement that both the medical profession and the country were “victims”.

Hospitals and clinics in Lucknow in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, Ahmedabad in western Gujarat, Guwahati in northeastern Assam and Chennai in southern Tamil Nadu and other cities joined the strike.

Fight for justice

Rakhi Sanyal, a doctor from Kolkata and professor at the West Bengal University of Health Science, condemned the “brutal murder” of the doctor and demanded “justice” for the killing.

“It is the government's duty to ensure our security,” she told Al Jazeera. “This should not have happened.”

Doctors are demanding the implementation of the Central Protection Act, a law to protect healthcare workers from violence.

They are also calling for stricter laws, including making any attack on paramedics on duty a criminal offence and eliminating the possibility of bail.

A man was arrested in connection with the crime. The crime is now being investigated by federal investigators after state government officials were accused of mishandling the investigation.

In India, many crimes against women go unreported because of the stigma attached to sexual violence and a lack of trust in the police.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), more than 31,000 rapes were reported in India in 2022, the latest year for which data is available.

At a rally of doctors in the capital New Delhi, one sign read: “Enough is enough.”