The principal of Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College, Dr. Sandip Ghosh, resigned on Monday as junior doctors, interns, and postgraduate trainees continued their strike for the fourth consecutive day. The strike was triggered by the demands for a magisterial inquiry into the rape and murder of a 31-year-old female trainee doctor.
The medical staff had been calling for Dr. Ghosh’s resignation in the wake of the incident. Addressing reporters, Ghosh expressed his distress, stating that he was being “defamed on social media” and emphasized that the victim was “like my daughter.” He added, “As a parent, I resign. This should not happen to anyone in the future.”
Due to the ongoing protests, outpatient services at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital remained suspended, causing significant inconvenience to patients. While junior doctors had initially continued to handle emergency cases, they fully withdrew from all duties starting Monday morning, according to sources cited by PTI.
The tragic incident involved the discovery of the trainee doctor’s body in a seminar hall at the hospital, with visible injury marks. An autopsy confirmed that she had been raped before being murdered. The accused, a civic volunteer, was arrested on August 10 and has been remanded to 14-day police custody.
In connection with the case, Kolkata Police’s detective department is expected to question three doctors and one housekeeping staff member from RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The individuals to be questioned include an intern doctor and two first-year postgraduate students from the chest medicine department, as well as a housekeeping staff member. These individuals were on night duty on August 9, the day the victim’s semi-nude body was found. Some of them had reportedly joined the victim for dinner before the incident.
The horrific crime has sparked widespread outrage across West Bengal and other states, leading to protests by medical students and doctors who are demanding justice. In solidarity, doctors at ten government hospitals in Delhi, including Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, have gone on strike. All elective services have been suspended at these hospitals.
The hospitals participating in the strike, which began at 9 am, include Maulana Azad Medical College, RML Hospital, Lady Hardinge Medical College, VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, GTB, IHBAS, Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College, and the National Institute of TB and Respiratory Diseases Hospital, according to a statement by the Resident Doctors’ Associations (RDA).
