IMA nation-wide strike: What is open, what is closed as medics protest Kolkata doctor's rape-murder

'The IMA declares nationwide withdrawal of services by doctors of modern medicine from 6 am on Saturday (August 17) to 6 am Sunday (August 18). All essential services will be maintained and casualties will be manned,' the medical association said.

The Indian Medical Association has called for a 24-hour-strike today wherein all non-emergency services have been closed from 6 am.

“The IMA declares nationwide withdrawal of services by doctors of modern medicine from 6 am on Saturday (Aug 17) to 6 am Sunday (Aug 18). All essential services will be maintained and casualties will be manned,” the medical association said.

This comes in response to the brutal rape and murder of a female trainee doctor in Kolkata's R G Kar Medical College and Hospital that has sent shockwaves throughout the country.

As the strike gets under way, here is a list of what’s open and what's closed

• The strike that began at 6 am today will continue till 6 am tomorrow, August 18.

• Essential services will be maintained and casualty wards operational, the medical body said in a statement.

• Emergency care unit will remain open and casualties will be manned, the IMA said in a statement.

• Out-Patient Departments (OPD) will not function and elective surgeries will not be conducted.

• The withdrawal is across all sectors wherever modern medicine doctors are providing services, the IMA said.

• Meanwhile, the Faculty Association of AIIMS (FAIMS), Delhi, has also announced that routine OPD and operation theatre services will be suspended on Saturday to protest against the alleged rape and murder of a trainee woman doctor at a state-run hospital Kolkata and subsequent vandalism at the facility. Doctors at the Centre-run hospitals Safdarjung and RML will hold a silent protest march, sporting black ribbons, in solidarity with the protesting doctors

• Similarly, the Karnataka government on Friday suspended the leaves of the medical officers and surgeons of government hospitals.

  In a circular, the Health and Family Welfare Department said all the district health and family welfare officers and district surgeons along with the administrative officers of all the hospitals should ensure that emergency services are not affected, causing trouble for people.

(With PTI inputs)