India’s hospitals struggle as doctors protest murder of colleague

Hospitals and clinics across India turned non-emergency patients away on Saturday as medical professionals started a 24-hour shutdown in protest against the brutal rape and murder of a doctor in the eastern city of Kolkata.

More than one million doctors were expected to join the strike, crippling medical services across the world’s most populous nation.

The strike, which began at 6am, cut off access to elective medical procedures and out-patient consultations, according to a statement by the Indian Medical Association (IMA).

Government, in a statement issued on Saturday after a meeting with representatives of medical associations, urged doctors to return to duties in public interest.

A 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered last week inside the medical college in Kolkata where she worked, triggering nationwide protests among doctors and drawing parallels to the notorious gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi in 2012.