A junior doctor in India, who went on hunger strike protesting the rape and murder of a fellow medic, was admitted to a hospital on Friday suffering from severe dehydration, authorities said.
Aniket Mahato and six others started their hunger strike on Sunday to protest, citing inadequate facilities and security for doctors, many of whom work long shifts in crowded, filthy hospitals.
When he was admitted, he was considerably dehydrated, pulse rate was very high, and was in a precarious condition,” Soma Mukhopadhyay, the professor of the hospital, said.
She said his pulse, blood pressure, and fluid levels had improved by Friday afternoon, but she added that more investigation was needed about other possible damage.
Mahato, a junior doctor at R G Kar Hospital in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state, was taken to hospital on Thursday night.
The rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at the hospital has sparked a national wave of protests by doctors, demanding more excellent safety for women in the workplace and justice for their colleagues, prompting India’s Supreme Court to set up a hospital safety task force.
The Indian Medical Association, the country’s largest doctors’ organization, wrote to the state chief minister on Thursday, appealing for urgent attention to the striking doctors.
The report added that the doctors’ demands include increased police protection in hospitals and an investigation into what they call corruption in several medical colleges.
