Kolkata rape and murder: Resident doctors call off strike after top court's safety pledge

Strike had severely affected India's healthcare system and put a burden on senior doctors treating emergency patients

Strikes by India's medical professionals such as this one in Amritsar have been called off. AFP

Resident doctors in India resumed their work on Friday after almost two weeks of protests over the rape and murder of a colleague at a government-run hospital in West Bengal.

A 31-year-old resident doctor at a hospital in state capital Kolkata was sexually assaulted and killed on August 9 in a case that has highlighted the problem of violence against women and safety of healthcare workers in India.

Her body was discovered in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital with 16 external and nine internal injuries, including to her head and neck that indicated strangulation, a postmortem found.

The killing triggered nationwide protests by junior and trainee doctors, who refused to treat non-emergency patients as they demanded a safer workplace and a swift criminal investigation into the case amid allegations that the police were shielding the perpetrators.

The doctors called off the strike after the Supreme Court asked that they prioritise their work, with an assurance no punitive action would be taken against them.

The court has taken up the matter of rape and murder suo-motu.

The strike severely affected the healthcare system and put a burden on senior doctors who were treating emergency patients.

“The Chief Justice of India requested us to call off the strike for the larger interest and public welfare,” said Dr Rohan Krishnan, chairman of Faima, one of the key resident doctors’ bodies that led the protests. "We had a pan-India meeting and we have decided to resume the outpatient department, emergency and elective services.

“The protest will continue but in a different form. I request all resident doctors to return and work for the patients' welfare. Our legal battle will continue."

Besides demanding justice for the trainee doctor, the doctors were pressing politicians to pass federal legislation to protect healthcare workers’ from violence in hospitals.

Doctors in the country have long faced abuse and some have suffered assaults by enraged relatives of patients during treatment, or in the case of deaths.

A survey by the Indian Medical Association in 2015 found 75 per cent of doctors had faced some form of violence from relatives of patients.

Dhananjay Yashwant Chandrachud, the Chief Justice of India, on Thursday gave a three-week window to authorities to address the demands, and issued directions on the safety of doctors, norms for protests and rights of demonstrators.

“We direct the secretary of the Union Ministry of Health to engage with the chief secretaries of the states and directors general of police to ensure the safety of healthcare professionals,” the bench said, ordering the task be completed in a week.

In Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh state, resident doctors said they would continue protesting by wearing black ribbons while resuming work.

Doctors at the state-run Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh in Punjab said they would hold more peaceful, candlelit marches for the time being but resume protests in larger numbers if demands are not met.