IMA's nationwide strike today over Kolkata Rape & Murder case; Know what is closed & what is open

Indian Medical Association (IMA) is observing a 24-hour nationwide strike on August 17, 2024. IMA's call for the strike came to express their solidarity with the victim of the Kolkata rape & murder case. While multiple hospitals including AIIMS in India are already on strike for the past few days, IMA has called for a fresh protest especially when a mob attacked and vandalised n RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata and accusations arrived that it was carried out by TMC workers to destroy the key evidence from the CBI. 

The 24-hour IMA nationwide strike includes the withdrawal of non-essential services by doctors from 6 am on Saturday, August 17 to 6 am on Sunday, August 18, for 24 hours. For the unversed, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) is the largest organisation of medical staff in the country. IMA in a statement said that all essential services will be maintained and the casualties will be manned. “Routine OPDs will not function and elective surgeries will not be conducted. The withdrawal is across all the sectors wherever modern medicine doctors are providing service. IMA requires the sympathy of the nation with the just cause of its doctors.” the IMA said in a statement.

What is closed & what is open in hospitals after the IMA strike?

Now, the question arises what are the services that will be operational in the hospitals, and what will be closed? Below is what you should know before going and taking any patient to the hospital today- 

• Expect most hospital departments to be closed during this weekend. Routine outpatient departments (OPDs) and elective surgeries will remain shut.
• Essential services will remain operational. This includes emergency care and critical treatments, which will continue as usual.
• Casualty services will be available to handle any urgent medical needs that arise.
• The strike will affect all areas where modern medicine doctors work, including both public and private hospitals.

The nationwide outrage and protest is taking place due to the heinous crime that took place on August 9, 2024.  A 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered while on duty at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. This has sparked widespread demonstrations and strikes by the medical community across the nation.

What are the demands of IMA?

1. IMA wants a significant policy to address violence against doctors and hospitals. The doctors' body is pushing for a Central Act that would incorporate the amendments made in 2023 to the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 into the proposed Hospital Protection Bill of 2019. This move, it said, would strengthen the existing legislation in 25 states. The IMA has suggested that an ordinance similar to the one enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic would be appropriate in this situation.
2. The IMA has also demanded that hospitals be declared safe zones with the first step being mandatory security entitlements. "The security protocols of all hospitals should be no less than (that of) an airport. Declaring the hospitals as safe zones with mandatory security entitlements is the first step. CCTVs, deployment of security personnel, and the protocols can follow," it said in the statement.
3. The IMA has demanded a thorough overhaul of the working and living conditions of resident doctors, including the 36-hour duty shift that the victim was in and the lack of safe spaces to take a rest.
4. The IMA has also called for a "meticulous and professional" investigation of the Kolkata horror in a specific time frame and rendering of justice besides identifying those involved in the vandalism of the hospital premises and awarding exemplary punishment.
5. The doctors' body has also sought an appropriate and dignified compensation to the bereaved family commensurate with the cruelty inflicted.