15,000 doctors at Delhi govt hospitals call off their strike
With the increased registration timing up to 1pm, the crowd in OPDS increased. Plus, this ate into the timings for special clinics for diseases, like diabetes and hypertension. DR HARI KISHAN, vice president, Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association
NEWDELHI: More than 15,000 doctors in 36 Delhi government-run hospitals have decided to call off a strike planned Wednesday to protest the government’s decision to extend the timings of the out-patient departments by two hours.
The strike would have meant a complete shutdown of all OPDS in these hospitals, which treat around 50,000 patients every day.
The strike was called off after Delhi government agreed to reduce patient-registration timings and providing breaks in between long out-patient clinics.
“We have decided to call off the strike for now because the Delhi government is willing to make modifications to their plan of extending OPDS,” said Dr Hari Kishan, vice president of Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA), the organisation that had called for the strike.
The Delhi government had decided to increase the patientregistration timing, out-patient clinic timings and pharmacy timing on October 9, after the health minister saw crowding in these areas during a hospital visit.
“Earlier, when the registration used to close at 11:30 am, the doctors still had to run the clinics till 2.30pm or 3pm on most days to treat all the registered patients. With the increased registration timing up to 1pm, the crowd in OPDS increased. Plus, this ate into the timings for special clinics for diseases like diabetes and hypertension, which had to be stopped,” said Dr Kishan.
After a meeting with the health secretary, it was decided that the registration would close at 12 noon instead of 1pm that the government had mandated.
The government also agreed to a 45-minute lunch break during the OPD at any time after 12:30, as decided by the hospital medical directors, according to the minutes of the meeting between representative of FORDA, health secretary and some Delhi government medical directors.