Junior doctors at government-run hospitals in Telangana on Wednesday boycotted outpatient services in support of the nationwide protest against the recent rape and murder of a female medical student at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata.
On a call given by the Telangana Junior Doctors Association (T-JUDA), the junior doctors stayed away from their duties.
T-JUDA had urged all post-graduates, senior residents, super speciality residents and house surgeons to boycott services.
Medicos staged protests at various hospitals, demanding justice for the victim. At Gandhi Hospital in Secunderabad, junior doctors staged a sit-in at the entrance. They were holding placards with slogans like ‘Save the doctors’, ‘We demand justice’ and ‘Hands that heal should not bleed’.
“We are demanding capital punishment for all those involved in the rape and murder of the doctor,” said a T-JUDA leader.
The protestors alleged that the horrific crime perpetrated at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital was the result of security failure and the negligence of the government and society. “She was not at some unsafe place. She was inside the campus. If such a heinous crime has been committed there, means it is a clear lapse of the government and people,” said one of the junior doctors.
The protestors demanded stringent legislation to check attacks on doctors.
Telangana Minister for Women and Child Welfare Seethakka, who visited Gandhi Hospital to call on a patient, expressed solidarity with the protesting doctors. She strongly condemned the rape and murder of a junior doctor in Kolkata.
Postgraduates boycotted their duties at ENT Hospital at Koti, Osmania General Hospital and other hospitals in Hyderabad and other parts of the state.
The protestors said as doctors have to work for 24-36 hours at a stretch, they should be provided duty rooms in all hospitals with tight security.
A lady junior doctor decried attempts made by some people to question the presence of the victim in the seminar hall saying this is more scarier than the incident itself.
She said doctors were not demanding that they should be respected or treated as gods. “We just want to feel safe,” she said.
T-JUDA is demanding the resignation of officials who attempted to mislead the victim’s family about the cause of death, adequate compensation for the family and the enforcement of the Central Protection Act (CPA) 2020.
It demanded enhanced safety measures for resident doctors, particularly female doctors, including separate duty rooms for male and female doctors, installation of CCTV cameras with adequate coverage and deployment of security personnel at service locations.
Earlier, doctors at Gandhi and Osmania hospitals on Monday evening held a candlelight vigil to show solidarity with the victim.
Resident Doctors Association at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) Hyderabad also organised a candlelight vigil.