Doctors' associations to continue strike as demands remain unmet

New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI) The Federation of Resident Doctors' Associations (FORDA) on Tuesday said it will continue its strike for a law to ensure the safety of healthcare workers, launched in the wake of the murder of a Kolkata medic.

In a post on X the doctor's body wrote, "No assurance on the Central Healthcare Protection Act--no call off-- our demands remain incomplete." "We will continue the strike until they are fully accepted," it added.

Resident doctors of government hospitals across the country went on an indefinite strike on Monday to protest against the gruesome killing of a female doctor at the RG Kar Medical College, paralysing elective services including OPDs and non-emergency surgeries.

The doctors continued their strike on Tuesday against the rape-murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) held a meeting with Union Health Minister J P Nadda to raise key issues affecting the medical community and gave him a memorandum of demands, which included declaration of hospitals as safe zones, introduction of a central law against violence, and security stipulations for medical college recognition.

According to Dr R V Asokan, National President of the IMA, Nadda agreed to consider the first two demands and accepted the demand for security stipulations for medical colleges.

The IMA's call for improved working conditions and accommodation for resident doctors was also met with a favourable response from the minister, a statement said.

A postgraduate trainee doctor was raped and murdered at the RG Kar Medical College while on duty last Thursday.

The semi-naked body of the 32-year-old woman was found in the seminar hall of the government-run hospital in the West Bengal capital.

The IMA asserted that since their demands remain unmet and the doctors will persist with the strike until all issues are fully addressed. PTI NSM NSM VN VN