Docs on mass leave, kid dies at hospital
AGITATION Inservice doctors want govt to accept demands, cancel transfers JAIPUR:
A two-year-old boy died allegedly due to lack of treatment at the Dholpur district hospital on Friday, the day doctors went on a mass leave.
Bharat Kumar of Basai Nawab village in Senpau sub-division, was injured after he fell from a walker on Thursday evening. His parents rushed him to the Senpau community health centre, but doctors referred the boy to the district hospital on Friday morning.
The boy’s father, Raju Kumar said doctors at the district hospital were busy in a meeting during their mass leave. “Nursing staff gave my son oxygen, but he died,” the father said, blaming the absence of in-service doctors for the death.
The hospital’s principal medical officer Dr Ashok Jindal said, “I am not aware about such an incident; I will inquire if doctors were absent.”
The All Rajasthan In-Service Doctors Association announced the mass leave to protest the government’s silence on its demands, and transfer of 12 doctors. In-service doctors went on a strike on November 6 and called it off on November 12 ,after talks with the government, who, they said, accepted most of their 33 demands.
“The government has not honoured its commitment though 25 days have gone after the agreement was reached on November 12,” said association president Dr Ajay Choudhary.
“Doctors had given three-day ultimatums twice -- from December 1 to 3, and from December 5 to 7 -- but no action has been taken for implementation of the agreement.”
The mass leave evoked a mixed response. “In-service doctors were present at hospitals in Jaipur and other cities; only a few were absent,” said health minister Kali Charan Saraf. “Action will be taken against those who remained absent; their salary will be deducted.”
The mass leave affected services at PHCs and CHCs in Kota.
In Bharatpur, doctors attended patients on roadsides near Raj Bahadur Memorial Hospital to register their protest. The PHCs and CHCs wore a deserted look in Alwar district.
“If the public faces problems, then the government is responsible and not the in-service doctors,” the ARISDA president said. “If the government tries to suppress our agitation, then all doctors will go on an indefinite leave,” Dr Choudhary warned.