Resident docs all set for hunger strike over dilapidated LHMC building
NEW DELHI: Doctors from Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC) and associated Kalawati Saran Children's hospital are scheduled to go on a hunger strike on Tuesday from 10:30 am over their demand to expedite the comprehensive redevelopment plan (CPR) of LHMC and raise concern over the safety of doctors and patients and other staff working continuously in a dilapidated building of the country's oldest hospital. The OPD services will be closed as around 2,000 doctors and students have announced to participate in the strike.
In a letter to Union Health Minister, the resident doctors' association said that the project was started in 2012 and was supposed to be completed by 2014. Unfortunately, the project still lies as it is and there has been no development in this regards for so many years. The RDA alleged that earlier too, the doctors had written letters to the authorities on multiple occasions. Unfortunately, all have fallen on deaf ears with no significant action being taken. Now the CPWD report is available and it states a danger is looming large over the doctors, students, nursing staff, employees and patients because of the 100-year old infrastructure of the hospital. “if anything happens because of this, the concern d authorities will be solely responsible,” the RDA'S letter reads.
Under the Rs 882 crore project which was approved in 2011, four buildings including a super-speciality block, an academic block and a trauma center were to be constructed. The project was supposed to be completed by 2014, but seven years down the line, the buildings are still under construction and there has been no work for the past three years. “We are fighting for the patients. Once these buildings are complete, a large number of patients in Delhi hospitals can be directed here. It will provide some relief then,” said Dr Vivek Chauksey, President, Federation of Resident Doctor's Association (FORDA), an umbrella body of resident doctors.
Currently, patients requiring super-speciality consultation are referred to other hospitals which lead to anger and aggression among patients and attendants due to unavailability of facilities. In their letter to the Minister, the RDA members have asked to look into the CPR of the hospital, and the four buildings under the CPR, which are currently in a dilapidated condition. Because of the stalled project, the hospital is not able to acquire other projects.