The 24-hour nationwide cease-work protest by doctors called by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) over the murder and rape of a trainee doctor at a state-run medical college in Kolkata began on Saturday morning.

All health services, except for essential services and casualties, will not be functioning from 6 am on Saturday to 6 am on Sunday, as the medical fraternity seeks justice and action on their demands, including a thorough overhaul of the working and living conditions of resident doctors and the implementation of a central law to prevent violence against healthcare professionals at workplaces.