Patients left in the lurch as doctors' strike shows no sign of ebbing
NEW DELHI: 58-yearold Kripa Kaur was at the Emergency ward in Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital, waiting to undergo surgery, but the doctors' strike has left her waiting for four days. Her relatives are puzzled as well, as the chaos at the Hospital after the strike has been too hard for them to bear.
Thursday was the fourth day of the doctors' strike at DDU Hospital and patients have been left to suffer.
“Is this a hospital? For the past two days our patient has not been attended in the Intensive Cardiac-care Unit. I just want to know what our fault is. Why are we ignored by the doctors,” said Gurmeet Kaur, Kripa Kaur's sister-in-law.
Kripa is not alone; there are hundreds of patients who are bearing the brunt of the doctors' strike.
Furthermore, bouncers could be seen guarding the entry gates of the emergency ward.
Confused patients were seen arguing with the bouncers in an attempt to get inside the ward.
Most of them still do not know that the Emergency ward has been closed due to the strike.
When Millennium Post enquired, a bouncer said: “We have clear instructions from the Hospital administration not to allow normal patients inside the casualty. Only the stretcher-laden patients are allowed.”
Another seriously injured patient, 21-year-old Nadeem, was denied admission on Thursday for treatment at the Emergency ward. “I am seriously injured, as I was stabbed. The police brought me to this hospital, but the bouncers at the emergency gate did not allow me to go inside the casualty ward,” said Nadeem.
After Millennium Post's intervention, Nadeem was finally given preliminary treatment at the Hospital.
Other patients in the Emergency wards, including Mohammed Abraak – who had fractured right upper limb – are suffering due to the strike. “My operation was scheduled for Tuesday, but it has been postponed,” said Abraak.
Mumbai's Vipin Kumar Dubey, 25, from Mumbai, a crane operator with multiple fractures in his right upper and lower limbs, has been waiting for doctors who have stopped coming to the wards. “Only nursing staff come to give medicine,” Dubey said.
The resident doctors, meanwhile, are firm on their demands for safety inside the hospital.
“3,000 doctors from 16 government hospitals are joining us. We want authorities to take note of the issues. We don't want any more false promises," Dr Shahank Shrivastav, general secretary of the Resident Doctors' Association (RDA), DDU, said.
Shrivastav added that strike will continue till the authorities agree to their demands.