Indian doctors stage nationwide strike over ‘barbaric’ rape and murder of colleague

Hospitals and clinics across India turned away patients except for emergency cases on Saturday as medical staff began a nationwide strike, escalating protests following the “barbaric” rape and murder of their colleague that expressed anger over the chronic problem of violence against women.

The strike, which began at 6 a.m., cut off people's access to planned medical procedures and outpatient consultations, the Indian Medical Association said in a statement.

The discovery of the 31-year-old doctor's blood-soaked body on August 9 in a government hospital in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta sparked violent protests in several cities across the country.

Doctors and other health workers led many of these protests, but tens of thousands of ordinary Indians also joined them in demanding action.

In Calcutta, thousands held a candlelight vigil until the early hours of Saturday morning.

“Hands that heal should not bleed,” read a handwritten sign held by a protester in the eastern city.

“Enough is enough,” was another slogan heard at a rally of doctors in the capital New Delhi.

The murdered doctor was found in the seminar room of the university hospital, which suggests that she had been resting there during a 36-hour shift.

An autopsy confirmed the sexual abuse and in a petition to the court the victim's parents stated that they suspected their daughter had been the victim of a gang rape.

Government hospitals in several states halted scheduled services “indefinitely” on Monday. The strikes were supported by numerous doctors' unions in both the public and private sectors.

On Saturday morning, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) escalated the protests with a 24-hour “nationwide withdrawal of services” and the suspension of all non-essential procedures.

“We ask for the nation's understanding and support in this fight for justice for its doctors and daughters,” IMA chief RV Asokan said in a statement ahead of the strike.

The IMA described the murder as “barbaric”.

“The 36-hour shift the victim worked and the lack of safe resting places … require a thorough review of the working and living conditions of the junior doctors,” the IMA said in a statement.

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

Members of the general public also took part in demonstrations in several cities this week, including a midnight candlelight rally in Kolkata that coincided with the start of India's Independence Day celebrations on Thursday.

Sexual violence against women is a widespread problem in India – in 2022, an average of nearly 90 rapes were reported per day in the country of 1.4 billion people.

The cruelty of the attack on the hospital has drawn comparisons with the horrific gang rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in Delhi in 2012.

This woman became a symbol of the socially conservative country's failure to combat sexual violence against women.

Her death sparked huge and sometimes violent demonstrations in Delhi and elsewhere.