Resident docs to withdraw service
MUMBAI: After first-year resident doctors of Sion Hospital joined the nationwide protests by withdrawing from both elective and emergency services from 8 am on Wednesday, all resident doctors from KEM and Sion hospitals will go on an indefinite strike on Thursday.
In separate statements released by the resident doctors of the respective hospitals, they have clarified that all elective, emergency and OPD services will be withdrawn from 2 pm onwards at Sion Hospital whereas, at KEM Hospital, students will start their strike from 5 pm. Resident doctors from J J Hospital and Government Medical College Solapur have also joined the indefinite strike starting Thursday.
Resident doctors at KEM Hospital, however, have stated that they will continue working in full force in Covid wards despite the strike.
This move comes 48 hours after several resident doctor associations across the country showed solidarity with their fellow doctors who were attacked first, then arrested in Delhi for participating in a peaceful protest.
“We (resident doctors) have been working at two-thirds strength for at least seven months now, and are overworked and burnt out both physically and mentally. For weeks now, many of us have been preparing peacefully demanding that first-year postgraduate admissions be initiated, but despite assurances from several Central government authorities, no timeline for admissions have been announced yet,” said the statement released by Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), KEM Hospital.
Similarly, MARD representatives at Sion Hospital have decided to join their first-year doctors starting Thursday.
“It has been more than six months that we have made multiple legal appeals, protested silently and despite working with only two-thirds of the workforce, our pleas have fallen on deaf ears. What is even more unacceptable is the manner in which peaceful protesting resident doctors were thrashed by the police and eventually arrested as well in the national capital,” added their statement.
For weeks now, resident doctors across the country have been participating in a protest to raise objections to the delay in PG medical admissions.
One of the major concerns raised by these doctors has been the extra work being shared by just two batches of resident doctors instead of three. “At a time when the country is witnessing a rise of a new Covid variant, the least that needs to be done is strengthening of the health care system and we need all hands on deck,” said one of the protesting doctors and added that these admissions will ensure 45,000 more doctors entering the healthcare sector.