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India’s doctors strike nationwide over Kolkata rape and murder

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Hospitals and clinics across India turned away patients except for emergency cases 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, paralysing medical services across the world’s most populous nation. Hospitals said faculty staff from medical colleges had been pressed into service for emergency cases.

The government, in a statement issued on Saturday after a meeting with representatives of medical associations, urged doctors to return to duties in the 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.

The strike, which began at 6 a.m. (0030 GMT), cut off access to elective medical procedures and out-patient consultations, according to a statement by the Indian Medical Association (IMA).

“Junior doctors have all been on strike, so this would mean 90% of doctors are on strike,” Sanjeev Singh Yadav, a representative of the IMA in the southern state of Telangana, told Reuters.

Outside the RG Kar Medical College, where the crime took place, a heavy police presence was seen on Saturday while the hospital premises were deserted, according to the ANI news agency.

Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, which includes Kolkata, has backed the protests across the state, demanding the investigation be fast-tracked and the guilty be punished in the strongest way possible.

A large number of private clinics and diagnostic centres remained closed in Kolkata on Saturday.

Dr Sandip Saha, a private paediatrician in the city, told Reuters he would not attend to patients except in emergencies.

Hospitals and clinics in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Guwahati in Assam and Chennai in Tamil Nadu and other cities joined the strike, set to be one of the largest shutdown of hospital services in recent memory.

‘HARSH PUNISHMENT’

Patients queued up at hospitals, some unaware that the agitation would not allow them to get medical attention.

“I have spent 500 rupees ($6) on travel to come here. I have paralysis and a burning sensation in my feet, head and other parts of my body,” an unidentified patient at SCB Medical College Hospital in the city of Cuttack in Odisha told local television.

“We were not aware of the strike. What can we do? We have to return home.”
Raghunath Sahu, 45, who had lined up at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, told Reuters a daily quota set by the doctors to see patients had ended before noon.

“I have brought my ailing grandmother. They did not see her today. I will have to wait for another day and try again,” Sahu said while moving away from the queue.

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation, the agency investigating the rape and murder, has summoned a number of medical students from the RG Kar college to ascertain the circumstances of the crime, according to a police source in Kolkata.

The CBI also questioned the principal of the hospital on Friday, the source said.

Questioning continued on Saturday, local television channels reported. One suspect is in the agency’s custody.

India’s government introduced sweeping changes to the criminal justice system, including tougher sentences, after the Delhi gang-rape, but campaigners say little has changed.

Anger at the failure of tougher laws to deter a rising tide of violence against women has fuelled protests by doctors and women’s groups.

“Women form the majority of our profession in this country. Time and again, we have asked for safety for them,” IMA President R. V. Asokan told Reuters on Friday.

The IMA has called for further legal measures to better protect healthcare workers from violence and swift investigation of the “barbaric” crime in Kolkata.

“The punishment should be the harshest possible, should come faster, so within public memory,” said senior criminal layer Shobha Gupta, who represented a Muslim woman gang-raped during religious riots that swept the western state of Gujarat in 2002.

“When we are still angry about the crime, the result should come out. Punishment to play a role of deterrence, it should come faster.”

The government said in its statement a committee would be set up to suggest measures to further improve protection for healthcare professionals.

Source: Reuters
–Agencies

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Presidential pardon was routine, not personal – Prisons Commissioner

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The Department of Prisons has issued a statement defending the release of W. M. Athula Tilakaratne, a former finance company manager convicted of misappropriating Rs. 4 million, clarifying that it was part of a general presidential pardon granted on Vesak Poya Day.

Prisons Media Spokesman and Commissioner Gamini B. Dissanayake stated that Tilakaratne was among a group of inmates released under the annual Vesak pardon, which is granted to prisoners who meet certain conditions. He noted that the individual was not specifically singled out for release, but was eligible under the general criteria due to his sentence and the remission of the fine imposed by court.

According to the statement, Tilakaratne had been convicted under Section 386 of the Penal Code and sentenced to a suspended prison term with a fine of Rs. 20 lakhs as compensation. The High Court had also ruled that failure to pay the fine would result in six months of rigorous imprisonment. His release was granted as the fine was waived under the Vesak pardon provisions.

The Department emphasized that Tilakaratne was released in accordance with existing procedures and that the pardon was not targeted or exceptional.

Yesterday, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Ajith P. Perera raised questions in Parliament regarding the pardon, highlighting that the release occurred just weeks after Tilakaratne’s conviction. He called on the government to explain the process and transparency behind granting such pardons, especially as the individual is reportedly facing other cases as well.

The government did not respond to the MP’s query during the session. 

(newswire.lk)

(Except for the headline, this story, originally published by newswire.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)

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Supplementary medical professionals end strike

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The Joint Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine (JCPSM) has decided to end the strike at 8.00 am today (June 07).

Secretary Chanaka Dharmawickrama stated that the decision was made after 04 of the 05 affiliated unions agreed to call off the strike, considering the inconvenience caused to patients.

However, medical laboratory professionals will continue their strike action.

He added that if their demands are not met, the temporarily suspended strike could be resumed in the future.

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All Dedicated Economic Centers to come under new company

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All 14 Dedicated Economic Centers (DECs) in Sri Lanka at the present will be brought under a new state company and operating under the proper administration, Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Co-operative Development Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe has said.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday (June 06), he has said, “Currently, there are a lot of problems and shortcomings in this entire process. Farmers do not get the right price for their products and also it takes a long time to transport their product’s to the DECs causing huge losses in harvest”.
“We will bring all these economic centers under a proper management board. This will solve all the problems that have arisen so far. The prices of vegetables and fruits in Dambulla will be displayed on digital boards in all other economic centers. Currently, Dambulla and Thambuttegama are opened in the morning, which is inconvenient for farmers. It takes about two days for vegetables coming to Dambulla to reach Colombo. Therefore, the opening times of the DECs will be changed and transport facilities will also be increased to prevent damage to the products during transportation.

Although Rs.1,400 million of state funds have been invested on these 14 DECs, the government has not received a single cent from them, he adds.

(Excerpts – dailynews)

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