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

KOLKATA: 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.