Global health movement demands release of detained Indian doctor: Release Dr Binayak Sen Immediately!

The People’s Health Movement, a global coalition of health activists and organisations, has demanded that the Indian government secure the immediate release of Dr Binayak Sen, a well known Indian health activist who was arrested by police in the province of Chattisgarh last week.

The Chattisgarh provincial authorities have accused Dr Sen of having links with an outlawed Maoist organisation that is active in the area, but according to the PHM ‘there is reason to believe that the charges are trumped up and not true’.

In an open letter to the Chief Minister of Chattisgarh Dr Raman Singh the PHM said “as concerned public health professionals, advocates & physicians we are shocked to learn about Dr. Binayak Sen’s arrest”. The letter pointed out that Dr Sen was an esteemed member of India's medical community and a well known public health physician deeply respected for his integrity and commitment to the poor and marginalized.

Dr Sen has worked on a wide variety of public health issues from tuberculosis and occupational health to ecology and access to healthcare. He helped establish the well-known Shaheed hospital in Chattisgarh for mineworkers and was state coordinator of the People's Health Movement or Jan Swasthya Abhiyan. Dr Sen is also a human rights activist and General Secretary of the People's Union of Civil Liberties in Chattisgarh.

The PHM letter deplored the way the government was harassing sincere social workers and demanded the safeguarding of Dr Sen’s freedom and human rights.
“We demand immediate release of Dr. Sen and withdrawal of false cases against him. We trust you will leave no stone unturned to ensure the safety of Dr. Sen and his family” said the PHM letter.

Copies of the letter have been sent to the Prime Minister of India and the Indian Minister of Health also.