In protest of the rape and killing of a doctor in the eastern city of Kolkata, medical professionals began a 24-hour strike, and hospitals and clinics all around India started turning away patients except in emergency situations.

The nation with the largest population in the world’s medical services would be rendered inoperable if more than a million doctors participated in the strike on Saturday. Hospitals reported that medical college faculty members had been called upon to handle emergency situations.

Following the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor inside her workplace at a medical college in Kolkata last week, doctors around the country protested, drawing comparisons to the infamous gang rape and killing of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi in 2012.

The hospital grounds were empty on Saturday, but there was a noticeable police presence outside the RG Kar Medical College, the scene of the crime, according to the ANI news agency.