Doctor rape-murder: Ceasework by doctors in Bengal continues, OPD services hit

Kolkata: The healthcare services were severely hit at almost all hospitals across West Bengal as doctors continued their ceasework on Wednesday, protesting the rape and murder of a woman doctor.

Long queues were seen at ticket counters of outpatient departments (OPDs) of all government hospitals where senior doctors joined their junior counterparts to protest against the crime.

"We have no new demand. We have seen that attempts have been made to provide a shield to a group of persons. Some people have tried to tamper with the evidence by starting construction work on the same floor of the RG Kar hospital where our sister was raped and murdered. We do not see any reason to stop our protest," an agitating doctor told PTI.

The West Bengal Joint Platform of Doctors had called for a ceasework at the outpatient departments of all governmental and private hospitals in the state.

Junior and senior doctors, interns and house staff were seen wearing blackbands on their arms and shouting slogans, demanding justice for the woman doctor.

"The emergency services are on. But unless we protest, the victim will not get justice. We are sorry for the inconvenience caused to some patients," he said.

The agitating junior doctors, who have been pressing for a magisterial probe into the killing of the woman doctor, on Tuesday set a deadline of August 14 for the Kolkata Police to complete their investigation.

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered the transfer of the probe into the alleged rape and murder of the doctor from the Kolkata Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).