Panaji, June 17 (IANS) Over hundred doctors of the Goa Indian Medical Association (IMA) staged a protest march wearing black bands to express solidarity with doctors on strike against attack on a medical practitioner in West Bengal.

Speaking to reporters, Goa IMA President Anil Mehndiratta said a strong legislation was needed to prevent attacks on doctors by patients' kin and friends.

"Doctors, associated with non-essential medical services, participated in the march. We have submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Speaker of the Assembly Rajesh Patnekar seeking a strict law to deal with the violence against doctors and also condemn attack on our colleague in a Kolkata hospital," Mehndiratta told reporters.

The doctors walked from the Azad maidan to the Old Goa Medical College complex, here.

Earlier on June 14, doctors of the government-run Goa Medical College and a private hospital protested after a junior doctor at the NRS Hospital in Kolkata was allegedly beaten up by a patient's kin on June 10.

--IANS maya/pg/pcj