Thousands of Indian junior doctors halted hospital services on Monday ( Aug 19 ), nearly a week after they launched a nationwide protest demanding a safer workplace and a swift criminal probe.
Following the killing of the 31-year-old nurse on August 9 at a hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata where she was a trainee, police claim she was raped and murdered. Physicians across the country have protested and said they will not see non-emergency people.
A policeman volunteer has been detained and charged with the crime. People activists claim that the event has outlined how women continue to experience sexual abuse in India despite stronger laws passed following the 2012 gang-rape and death of a 23-year-old pupil on a moving vehicle in New Delhi.
While the federal establishes a commission to recommend measures to improve safety for healthcare professionals, it has urged physicians to return to work.
” Our endless cease-work and sit-in may remain till our expectations are met”, said Dr Aniket Mahata, a spokeswoman for protesting young medics at the R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the event happened.