Health workers all over India have called for a nationwide strike in protest against the brutal murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata.

According to Al Jazeera, doctors, and health workers all across the country are demanding action over the sexual assault and brutal murder of an on-duty doctor at a government hospital, RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, in the eastern city last week.

Hospitals and clinics in the country began the nationwide strike on Saturday, August 17, turning away all the patients except for the emergency cases. The strike began at 6 a.m. local time and will continue for 24 hours.

Protestors are demanding better working conditions for not only health workers but for all the women.

The demonstrators shouted, “We want justice,” while one of the placards with hands signs said, “Hands that heal shouldn’t bleed.”

Another poster read, “Enough is enough.”

One of the protestors told Al Jazeera, “We don’t feel safe. If this happened inside a hospital that is second home to us, where are we safe now?”

Rakhi Sanyal, a doctor in Kolkata and professor at the West Bengal University of Health Science, said, “It is the duty of the administration to look after our safety. This should not have happened.

To note, according to the National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) latest available data, over 31,000 sexual assault cases were reported in 2022.