Kolkata Rape & Murder: Massive Strike By Medicos Cripples OPD Services In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Healthcare services in Odisha were disrupted on Sunday with MBBS students and junior doctors joining the nationwide protest over rape and murder of a woman trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

As the protest of medical students and junior doctors’ union over safety of doctors at workplace entered its third day on Sunday, members of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in the state extended support to the strike, impacting healthcare facilities, sources said.

Patients coming from different parts of the state to medical colleges and district headquarters hospitals experienced great difficulty as the OPDs remained closed.

Junior doctors of SCB Medical College and Hospital (MCH) in Cuttack, MKCG MCH in Berhampur, VIMSAR Burla, AIIMS-Bhubaneswar, and DHHs in Koraput, Umerkote, Dharmagarh, Angul and other districts of Odisha joined the strike paralysing healthcare services.

However, emergency services like OT and ICU kept functioning at these institutions, the sources added.

Doctors of private hospitals also joined the strike demanding justice to the victim and stringent punishment to the perpetrators of the heinous crime. “The enormous support for the female medical victim is noteworthy. Unfortunately, the offender and everyone else who was part of brutal crime are still at large. We’ll keep protesting until justice is served for our fellow medic,” the protesting doctors said.