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Join Telegram Channel- Thousands of medical workers in India continue protests following the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor.
- A volunteer police officer was arrested and charged in connection with the crime.
- The Indian government has urged doctors to return to work while a committee is formed to suggest measures to improve the safety of healthcare workers.
Thousands of young Indian doctors refused on Monday to end protests over the rape and murder of a fellow doctor, disrupting hospital services nearly a week after launching a nationwide action demanding a safer workplace and a swift criminal investigation.
Doctors across the country have staged protests and refused to see non-emergency patients following the August 9 killing of a 31-year-old doctor, who police said was raped and murdered at a hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata where she was a trainee.
A police volunteer was arrested and charged with the crime. Women's activists say the incident shows that women in India continue to suffer sexual violence despite stricter laws passed after the 2012 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi.
PROTESTS SPREAD INDIA OVER DOCTOR'S RAPE, MURDER
The government has urged doctors to return to work as it sets up a committee to suggest measures to improve protections for health workers.
Doctors chant slogans during a protest demanding justice after the rape and murder of a medical intern at a Kolkata hospital in New Delhi, India, on Monday. (REUTERS/Adnan Abidi)
“Our indefinite work stoppage and sit-in will continue till our demands are met,” said Dr Aniket Mahata, spokesperson of the protesting junior doctors at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the incident took place.
In solidarity with the doctors, thousands of fans of the two biggest football clubs in the state of West Bengal marched through the streets of Kolkata on Sunday evening chanting “We want justice”.
Groups representing young doctors in neighbouring Odisha state, the capital New Delhi and the western state of Gujarat also said their protests would continue.
Doctors during a protest in New Delhi, India, on Monday. Doctors across the country have staged protests and refused to see non-emergency patients after the killing of a 31-year-old doctor. (REUTERS/Adnan Abidi)
Gita Gopinath, deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, told Indian daily Business Standard that workplace safety was important to increase the country's female labour force participation rate, which was 37% in the 2022-23 financial year.
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“You cannot increase this participation (of women) without ensuring safety at the workplace and safety of women when they go to their workplace. That is absolutely essential,” Gopinath said in the interview published on Monday.