Indian doctor on hunger strike over medic's murder has been hospitalised

By Subrata Nag Choudhary

A junior doctor on hunger strike in India over the rape and murder of a fellow medic has been hospitalised with severe dehydration, authorities said on Friday.

Aniket Mahato and six others began their hunger strike on Sunday, to protest against what they say are inadequate facilities and security for doctors, many of whom work long shifts in crowded, squalid hospitals.

"When he was admitted he was severely dehydrated, pulse rate was very high and was in a very unstable condition," Soma Mukhopadhyay, a professor at the hospital, said.

His pulse, blood pressure and fluid levels had improved by Friday afternoon, she said, but added 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 triggered a wave of protests by doctors across the country, demanding greater workplace safety for women and justice for their colleague, prompting India's Supreme Court to create a hospital safety task force.

The Indian Medical Association, the country's biggest doctors' body, sent a letter to the state's chief minister on Thursday, calling for immediate attention to the striking doctors.

The doctors' demands include increased police protection in hospitals and investigation of what they say is corruption in several medical colleges.