Goa doctors to join nationwide protest on Monday

Panaji, June 16 (IANS) Medical professionals in Goa has decided to join the Indian Medical Association's (IMA) call for a nationwide closure of non-essential medical services on June 17 to show solidarity with doctors in West Bengal and support the demand for a special legislation to make assault on doctors a non-bailable offence."We, IMA Goa doctors, are planning a silent protest from Azad Maidan to Old GMC complex here at 10 a.m. on Monday," IMA Goa spokesperson Dr. Shekhar Salkar said on Sunday."However, all doctors associated with the association in Goa will be available for emergencies," Salkar said.On June 14, doctors at a top state government hospital, the Goa Medical College, and a private hospital had joined the nationwide protests in solidarity with the doctors at the state-run NRS Hospital in Kolkata, after a junior doctor was allegedly beaten up by the kin of a 75-year-old patient who died there on Monday night.
--IANS maya/rs/pcj