The Vice President told the gathering: "Kolkata's brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor stands as barbarity expressed in extremity, shaming humanity," but should not be "an occasion to vie with each other." Addressing the gathering at AIIMS Rishikesh, the Vice President praised the healthcare community while voicing grave concern over increasing violence against health professionals.
He also attacked "stray voices" that "only exacerbate our excruciating pain." "They are pouring a bucketload of salt into our injured conscience," Dhankhar said.
The Vice President also asked SCBA President Kapil Sibal for terming the ghastly act as "symptomatic malaise" and thereby suggesting that such acts are routine.
"When this comes from a member of Parliament or a senior advocate, then the culpability becomes of extreme degree. There can be no alibi for such demonising thoughts," said Vice President.
"I call upon such misguided souls to revisit their thoughts and publicly tender an apology."
Dhankhar also criticised "certain NGOs" for their silence over the issue. "Their silence is much worse than the culpable act of the perpetrators of this heinous crime," he said.
"This is not an occasion to vie with each other, to earn brownie points or score political mileage, this is non-partisan," he asserted, urging a "concerted effort."
Vice President Dhankhar's reaction comes amid widespread outrage within the medical fraternity following the Kolkata incident.
Meanwhile, Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) on Saturday called for the implementation of Healthcare Central Protection Act by the Union government in the wake of 'repeated' physical and sexual assaults on medical professionals, including lady doctors while at work. While protesting at Delhi's Jantar Mantar, the president of FAIMA, Dr. Rohan Krishna mentioned that in the Covid-19 crisis, though the act was in force, it was never tabled in Parliament and thus could not get its full implementation.
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