As per reports, following are updates for the ongoing doctors’ protest in Delhi against the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, as on Wednesday (21 August):

• The Resident Doctors Association (RDA), while welcoming the Supreme Court intervention in the case, has announced that its strike across Delhi hospitals will continue on Wednesday (21 August). The RDA stated that its agitation will continue until the Central Protection Act (CPA), which designates hospitals as safe zones, is implemented.
• The Indian Medical Association (IMA) is scheduled to meet on Wednesday (21 August) to determine the future course of the strike action.
• Resident doctors at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital briefly declared an end to their strike after the Supreme Court’s intervention on Tuesday (20 August). However, RML doctors later rescinded the declaration and decided to continue the strike along with the RDA.
• The Supreme Court, in its Tuesday (20 August) hearing, took cognisance of the Kolkata case and criticised the West Bengal Government’s response. It also directed protective measures for doctors, including the creation of a task force at the national level to ensure provisions for doctors’ security across the country.
• Following the Supreme Court’s statements, the Delhi Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) directed all hospitals to form committees to develop security plans for their facilities. These panels, to be led by the hospital’s Medical Superintendent/Director, will include heads of departments, resident doctors, and nurses to ensure comprehensive safety measures are implemented.
• It further stated that the security plan must include provisions for access control to doctors by attendants and family members of patients, as this is one of the key vulnerable areas in hospitals
• The DGHS’s directions also specified that hospitals should report any complaints of abuse to the police within six hours of receiving them from doctors.
• Furthermore, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has written to all Central Government-run hospitals, All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) across the country, and health institutes of national importance to enhance their security measures.
• In the letter, the MoHFW suggests 12 measures to improve security measures, including setting up high-resolution CCTV cameras at strategic locations such as entrances and exits, corridors, dark spots, and sensitive areas. It also says that a control room should be set up for quick response at the time of an emergency.
• Various civil activists’ groups, women’s rights groups, and others including the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) staged a protest at Jantar Mantar to call for justice against crimes against women.
• At present, doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Safdarjung Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, Lok Nayak Hospital, Deen Dayal Updhayay Hospital, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and others amongst government hospitals, and doctors of Fortis Hospitals, Apollo Hospitals, and PSRI Hospital amongst private hospitals, are participating the strike. They have shut down their outpatient departments (OPDs), inpatient departments (IPDs), and elective surgeries at Operation Theaters (OTs).