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The IMA announced that non-essential services will be canceled nationwide on August 17.
The decision to cancel services was seen as a protest against the brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Thursday announced a nationwide cancellation of non-essential services of doctors for 24 hours from 6 am on Saturday, August 17 to 6 am on Sunday, August 18.
The IMA said in a statement that the decision to cancel the services was a protest against the brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
“All essential services will be maintained. Casualties will be deputed. Regular OPD will not function and elective surgeries will not be conducted. All departments involved in the provision of services by doctors of modern medicine will be withdrawn. IMA needs the support of the people of the country towards its doctors Sympathy for a Just Cause: Indian Medical Association (IMA),” read a statement issued by the IMA.
FORDA resumes strike
Meanwhile, the Federation of Resident Doctors' Associations (FORDA) on Thursday decided to resume the strike, hours after unidentified miscreants vandalized the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata where a trainee doctor was brutally raped and murdered last week. The decision comes two days after doctors' bodies decided to call off Tuesday's strike.
Announcing its decision to resume the strike, FORDA said it was “shocked and distressed” by the violence at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
“In light of the recent disturbing events at RG Kar Medical College, the Federation of Resident Doctors' Associations (FORDA) addresses our colleagues, the medical community and the public with renewed resolve… We acknowledge that our previous decision to call off the strike was based on this The ministry's assurances, made in good faith, have caused pain and disappointment in our community and we accept responsibility for the widespread dissatisfaction it has caused.
RG Kar Medical College vandalized
Unidentified miscreants entered the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in the early hours of Thursday and vandalized parts of the medical facility, where the body of a female doctor was found last week.
The incident occurred during a midnight protest by women against the rape and murder of a hospital doctor.
