Authorities said on Friday that a junior doctor on hunger strike in India over the rape and murder of a fellow doctor was hospitalized with severe dehydration.
On Sunday, six other people, including Aniket Mahato, began a hunger strike in protest of what they claim are inadequate facilities and security for doctors, many of whom work long shifts in crowded, filthy hospitals.
Soma Mukhopadhyay, a professor at the hospital, stated, “When he was admitted he was severely dehydrated, pulse rate was very high, and was in a very unstable condition.”
His heartbeat, circulatory strain and liquid levels had improved by Friday evening, she said however added more examination was required about other conceivable harm.
On Thursday night, Mahato, a junior doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata, the state capital of West Bengal, was transported to the hospital.
India’s Supreme Court has established a hospital safety task force in response to the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at the hospital, which has sparked a wave of protests by doctors across the country demanding greater workplace safety for women and justice for their colleague.
The nation’s largest medical organization, the Indian Medical Association, sent a letter to the state’s chief minister on Thursday requesting immediate attention for the striking physicians.
In addition to more police protection for hospitals, the doctors want an investigation into what they say is corruption in several medical schools.
