AI Brief
- West Bengal doctors resumed partial services after a female doctor's murder sparked safety protests.
- The Supreme Court formed a safety task force and set an October 15 deadline for state action.
- Doctors threaten to maintain their strike unless safety measures are implemented.
Doctors from the West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front, which represents about 7,000 physicians in the state, reinstated partial services last month, citing the flood situation in parts of the state.
The rape and murder of the 31-year-old female doctor in Kolkata, capital of the eastern state, set off a wave of protests by doctors demanding greater workplace safety for women and justice for their slain colleague, prompting India's Supreme Court to create a hospital safety task force.
The top court, in its latest hearing on Monday, urged the state government to put in place all measures by Oct. 15 to meet the doctors' demands.
It also asked the information ministry to ensure the identity of the victim was concealed and not shared online as required by law.
The doctors, however, said they were disappointed with the court's decisions and were "compelled to return to a full ceasework".
"Unless we receive clear action from the government on safety, patient services, and the politics of fear, we will have no choice but to continue our full strike," the group said in a statement on Tuesday.
The doctors' demands include increased police protection in hospitals and investigation of what they say is corruption in several medical colleges.
West Bengal, ruled by the regional Trinamool Congress party, has been slow to create new tribunals to try sex crimes speedily, according to a Reuters report.
Only six tribunals are operational in the state, a far cry from the target of installing 123 fast-track tribunals by March 2021.
