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‘Time ripe for PM’s intervention': IMA president on Kolkata rape-murder case
IMA chief Dr RV Asokan said the body will write to prime minister Narendra Modi.
Indian Medical Association (IMA) national president Dr RV Asokan on Saturday sought prime minister Narendra Modi's ‘intervention’ in the Kolkata trainee doctor rape and murder case, saying that the ‘time is ripe’ for the PM to step in.
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“We will be writing to the PM. The time is ripe for his intervention,” Asokan told ANI.
The mention by prime minister Modi of women's safety in his Independence Day speech on August 15, shows that he is ‘concerned,’ the IMA chief further stated.
“Certainly, that is one aspect that shows that he is concerned. It will be very appropriate to write to the prime minister. IMA will be doing that,” Asokan said.
He also noted that IMA representatives met Union health minister Jagat Prakash Nadda to discuss the matter.
“We did meet the health minister. Now it is for the government to respond. What we have asked for is not something beyond them. We are asking for a very a fundamental right…the right to life, he added.
On August 12, three days after the rape and murder at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, an incident that has triggered nationwide protests by the medical fraternity, IMA wrote to Nadda with a list of demands, including declaration of hospitals as ‘safe zones,’ security measures, and a central law on violence against doctors.
The medical profession has ‘stood united across the country,’ Asokan, the IMA chief, remarked.
"The response is overwhelming from every part of the country. Doctors stand united against this injustice. The protest is there, but we are taking care of the emergency services. Across all the sectors, doctors are in protest. We are praying for international attention because this involves the issue of the safety of women," he said.
(With ANI inputs)
