Doctors in India’s Kolkata resume strike, demand action on safety

The physicians say their demands for hospital safety improvements have not been met following the murder of a 31-year-old female doctor in Kolkata.

Indian doctors in the West Bengal city of Kolkata have resumed a strike to protest against the rape and murder of a female colleague.

The doctors restarted their action on Tuesday and said their demands for hospital safety improvements had not been met.

Doctors from the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front, which represents about 7,000 physicians in the state, reinstated partial services last month, citing the flood situation in parts of the state.

“Unless we receive clear action from the government on safety, patient services, and the politics of fear, we will have no choice but to continue our full strike,” the group said in a statement.

Doctors shout slogans during a protest demanding justice following the rape and murder of a trainee medic at a hospital in Kolkata, in New Delhi [File: Adnan Abidi/Reuters]

The rape and murder of the 31-year-old female doctor in Kolkata, the capital of the eastern state, set off a wave of protests by doctors demanding greater workplace safety for women and justice for their slain colleague, prompting India’s Supreme Court to create a hospital safety task force.

In its latest hearing on Monday, the court urged the state government to put in place all measures by October 15 to meet the doctors’ demands.

Union calls for greater security

Union spokesman Aniket Mahato said the West Bengal state government had failed to deliver on its promises to upgrade lighting, CCTV cameras and other security measures in hospitals.

“The state government has failed to provide safety and security in the workplace,” he told AFP news agency.

Mahato said doctors would return to the streets on Tuesday night to insist the government meet its pledges and to demand justice for their murdered colleague.

While the protests began in Kolkata, they quickly spread across the country, including the capital New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra.

One man has been detained over the murder, but the West Bengal government has faced public criticism for its handling of the investigation.

The city’s police chief and top health ministry officials have been fired by authorities.

The gruesome nature of the attack drew comparisons with the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus, which also sparked weeks of nationwide protests.