New Delhi, June 17: Amid the ongoing strike called by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to protest the assault on junior doctors in West Bengal, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear tomorrow an urgent plea seeking safety and security for government doctors across the nation. Doctors' Strike Extends Across India From West Bengal.

A vacation bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Surya Kant agreed to list the matter for Tuesday after the counsel appearing for the petitioner, advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, sought urgent hearing.

The plea was filed on Friday in the wake of protests by doctors in West Bengal against assault on their colleagues by the family of a patient, who died on Monday night.

The petition has also sought directions to Union ministries of home affairs and health and West Bengal to depute government-appointed security personnel at all state-run hospitals across the country to ensure safety and security of doctors.

Due to the protests, the healthcare services in the country have been badly disrupted and many people are dying because of absence of doctors, the plea said.

Patients in Delhi were the worst hit due to the protests on Monday, as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) joined the strike after initially refraining from it.

The Delhi Resident Doctors' Association of the AIIMS announced that they would not be offering non-emergency services to patients from 12 noon today till 6 am tomorrow, demanding adequate security in all public medical institutes and hospitals.

Doctors at the Centre-run Safdarjung Hospital, Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital, RML Hospital as well as Delhi government facilities such as GTB Hospital, Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital will also not function till tomorrow morning.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 17, 2019 11:33 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).