IMA’s 24-hour shutdown of OPD all over India

NEW DELHI: As hundreds of angry resident doctors on Friday laid siege to Nirman Bhavan, the health ministry headquarters, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) said it is firm on a 24-hour shut down of OPD and elective surgeries on Saturday to protest the brutal rape and murder of a trainee woman doctor in Kolkata.

The IMA, the most prominent doctors’ organisation in the country, said they have received overwhelming responses from not only doctors running small private clinics but also from those working in big corporate hospitals.

Speaking with this paper, IMA President Dr R V Asokan said, “IMA has declared 24-hour withdrawal of services by all the modern medicine doctors of the country irrespective of the sector and place of work. Emergencies and casualties will function. No OPDs. No elective surgeries.”

He said 70 per cent of their members have agreed to cease work on Saturday from 6 am to 6 am on Sunday. IMA has nearly 4 lakh members.

“We ask for the understanding and support of the nation in this struggle for justice for its doctors and daughters. It has become a national movement. Not only doctors but everyone is outraged by the way the brutal rape and murder of a woman trainee doctor, who was on duty, took place in the hospital complex,” he said.