Guj junior doctors hold rallies, demand protection

Agitated by the attack on two junior doctors in West Bengal by a patient's kin earlier this week, junior doctors in Gujarat Friday held peaceful protests demanding security and stricter laws for their protection.

Junior doctors and students of different government and private medical colleges organised marches in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat to express solidarity with their WB counterparts.

Several doctors held banners with slogans like "Stop violence against doctors", "I protest attacks on doctors" and "Save the saviors".

In Ahmedabad, over 300 junior doctors from various government hospitals participated in a protest march demanding action against those involved in attacks on medical personnel as well as a stricter law for the protection of doctors.

"Junior doctors are holding such rallies across the country today to express solidarity with the two doctors who were attacked in West Bengal. There must be zero tolerance for those who attack doctors. The offence must be non-bailable. We want a stricter law in this regard," said a junior doctor at one of the protest rallies.

"We are healers, not killers. People must show some respect. Today it happened in West Bengal, tomorrow it can happen in other states too. We want justice for those who were attacked there. We want the government to take stern action to stop such violence," said another doctor.

Two doctors were seriously injured after relatives of a patient who died in Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata attacked medical staff there.