A GP from Oldham is calling on medics to wear black armbands to mark the anniversary of the rape and murder of a doctor in India and to "send a message" about misogyny.

Dr Anita Sharma is an Indian-born doctor who has built her career in Oldham treating the physical and mental scars caused by aggression towards women.

The GP, who is also the founder of the charity, Endometriosis Awareness North, has come up with an initiative to mark the anniversary of the brutal killing of a woman in Kolkata in an effort to end violence against women and girls worldwide and highlight the abuse female GPs receive "daily" at their surgeries.

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The body of the 31-year-old woman, a trainee doctor at a state-run hospital, was found earlier this month and sparked a global outcry over violence against women and girls.

Dr Sharma said: "The Kolkata homicide hit close to home for the many doctors of Indian descent within our borough and nationwide.

"But the problem of misogyny is much wider spread than that.

"I hope when patients see their doctor in mourning, it opens their eyes to the fact that we as medics treat one million cases of violence against women and girls in Britain each year.

"They should also know that doctors are feeling increasingly vulnerable when verbal attacks are unleashed upon them.”

In her work campaigning against the unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics, Dr Sharma says she has heard about the physical 'molestation' of GPs.

Frustration at appointment delays has also boiled over into violence.

The GP argues that while nothing like the Kolkata incident has been witnessed in the UK, doctors' mental health has been affected by increasing aggression.

Where once the family doctor mainly treated sickness, the alarming "national emergency of violence" means they are treating wounds to women more often – and the pattern of domestic abuse, in particular, continues to perpetuate.

Dr Sharma added: "Families are facing crisis and this manifests itself in a raft of damaging behaviour from addiction to abuse” she continued.

“There have to be positive interventions in these situations, but also on a societal level, we must do more to reduce the glorification of violence and the hatred of women.

"You need only to look at the attitudes of those convicted after the riots – carried out because of racial hatred and revelling in looting and smashing things up to see what we are fighting against.”

In her various roles for British, Indian, and international health organisations, Dr Sharma will call for better protection of female medics.

She will also make this her keynote speech to the British International Doctors Association later in the month and has written to the World Health Organisation to help spread the anti-violence message across the globe.

Meanwhile, on Monday, September 9, she is asking her colleagues to make a gesture to call for justice in Kolkata and an end to violence against females.

She said: “Whether it be a black armband, a moment of silence, a personal prayer or even a presentation on domestic abuse, I would like my colleagues to stand together and say: 'No more violence against women in Britain, India, or anywhere else in the world, for that matter'."

Got a story? Email me Olivia.bridge@newsquest.co.uk