IMA Announces Nationwide 24-Hour Strike: What’s Operational And What’s Not?

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has announced a 24-hour nationwide withdrawal of non-emergency services which will begin at 6 a.m. on August 17, 2024.

The protest is in response to the alleged rape and murder of a trainee woman doctor at the State-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, as well as the subsequent vandalism at the facility.

Despite the protest, essential services will be maintained, and casualty wards will remain operational, the IMA stated.

Out-patient departments (OPD) will not be operational, and elective surgeries will be postponed.

The withdrawal of services will apply across all sectors where modern medicine doctors are providing care, according to the IMA.

“It is for authorities to provide for the safety of doctors inside hospitals and campuses. Both physical assaults and crimes are a result of indifference and insensitivity of the authorities concerned to the needs of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers," it said.