Health care services hit in doctors’ nationwide strike
Docs demand security for themselves, take out protest marches
NEWDELHI: Hundreds of thousands of doctors across India went on strike on Monday demanding better working conditions, the country’s top medical body said, as the outrage over lax security conditions at hospitals escalated.
The nationwide protests, affecting hundreds of hospitals, started after an attack at a medical college in West Bengal a week ago. Health care services at several government and private hospitals in New Delhi, Uttarakhand, Chennai, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh among other places were affected on Monday as scores of doctors stayed away from work in solidarity with their colleagues in West Bengal.
The doctors stayed away from non-emergency services in response to a call for a 24-hour strike by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) against an attack on two junior doctors at a hospital in Kolkata last week.
A junior resident doctor at the emergency ward of the AIIMS Trauma Centre was allegedly verbally abused and manhandled by the attendants of a patient late on Sunday night, following which his colleagues at the premier institute have gone on a strike withdrawing all nonessential services till Tuesday morning.
The AIIMS Resident Doctor’s Association said services at outpatient departments and routine operation theatre, and ward visits have been withdrawn from Monday noon till 6 am Tuesday, but emergency services such as ICU, casualty and labour room services are available.
At several places, including Ludhiana, Patiala, Bathinda, Hisar, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Chandigarh, the doctors also took out protest marches.
Doctors in government and private hospitals in Tamil Nadu staged protests on Monday in support of the striking doctors in Kolkata and for safety of medical practitioners.
Outpatient services were stopped in many hospitals, but emergency cases were attended to by the doctors. In some hospitals, doctors attended duty wearing black badges as a mark of protest.
A protesting doctor said the fraternity is deeply saddened and disappointed by the ongoing impasse in West Bengal and the “lack of genuine initiatives on part of the administration there”. Doctors work for 15-18 hours every day and all they are demanding is a secure work environment, he said.
Dr Uttam Kumar Thakur, president of Association of Resident Doctors at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) Chandigarh, said doctors at the hospital will stay away from all non-emergency services till the time the demands of their colleagues in West Bengal are accepted by the state government.
“We have decided to stay away from all non-emergency services for an indefinite period, till the time the West Bengal administration fulfils the demands of the striking doctors there and resolves the matter amicably with them. All services except emergency and ICUs will be restricted from Monday,” he said.
OPDs remained closed at all hospitals in the state including Doon Medical College and Hospital, Coronation Hospital, AIIMS, Rishikesh and Rishikesh Government Hospital.
A middle-aged man who accompanied his ailing wife to a hospital in Hisar, said, “Why should patients have to suffer like this. I have been waiting here for hours, but no one is giving any proper response. The central government must intervene in the matter as patients across the country should not be made to suffer.”