Interview | Kolkata doctor rape and murder: ‘Horrific incident underscores need for protection Act’

NEW DELHI: For the last two days, the doctors are out in the street demonstrating their anger against the ghastly rape and murder of their female counterpart in Kolkata.

The protest, which began at a local level in West Bengal, spreads to other parts of the country with hundreds of doctors striking work. They are demanding time-bound probe in the case and adequate security for medicos in hospitals, among others. The initial call for a nationwide strike by the Federation of Resident doctors Association (FORDA) was followed by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA). In Delhi alone, almost every government medical college and hospital are facing indefinite shutdown of its elective services. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Tuesday 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.

In an interview with Dr Aviral Mathur, president, FORDA, and Dr Rohan Krishnan, chairman, FAIMA, Ashish Srivastava tries to find out doctors’ plights, strike’s relevance on national pedestal and the repercussions being faced by the patients.

Although the incident occurred in Kolkata, why has your association called for a nationwide strike?

Aviral: This is not just a crime against healthcare workers; it’s a crime against humanity itself. What happened is a horrific act and is unacceptable. As a resident doctors’ organisation, we believe that our colleague’s suffering demands strong condemnation and solidarity of all doctors across the country. More importantly, this is a matter of human dignity, and we feel that the issue should not be protested by doctors alone. It is crucial that the general public and people from all walks of life join us in this movement, and we are seeing increasing support as awareness grows.

Rohan: The impact of such a dreadful tragedy cannot be confined to a specific region. For instance, a female doctor in Andaman and Nicobar now fears performing night duties due to this incident. Additionally, the initial investigation was deeply troubling, as authorities attempted to misclassify the brutal rape and murder as a suicide. There are suspicions that the autopsy report may have been tampered with. This reflects a systemic failure, and as a medical community, we must stand united and speak out against this atrocity committed against one of our own.

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