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‘The workload is inhuman’: Indian doctors stage nationwide strike over violence from patients, long hours
- The Indian Medical Association, the country’s top medical body, is demanding tougher punishments for those who attack doctors, as well as higher recruitment to support the overworked staff
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Hundreds of thousands of doctors across India went on strike on Monday calling for more protection against violence by patients and their families, as the outrage over lax security conditions at hospitals escalates.
The nationwide protests, affecting hundreds of hospitals, started after an attack at a medical college in West Bengal state a week ago. The attack left three junior doctors seriously injured after a dispute with a family whose relative had died.
The incident resonated with Indian doctors, many of whom are poorly paid and overworked compared with their foreign counterparts.
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Thousands of doctors protested outside hospitals across India on Monday, holding placards and wearing black arm bands and bloodied mock bandages.
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The Indian Medical Association (IMA) – which represents more than 300,000 doctors as well as half a million junior doctors, medical students and other staff – said almost all of its members, apart from those providing emergency services, have joined the protests.
“Practically, the entire medical fraternity is on strike,” said RV Asokan, the IMA’s honorary general secretary, on Monday. “Everybody is on the street.”
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