More docs to join strike

Medics at nine govt hospitals to stop work for a day

Resident doctors in at least nine government-run hospitals in Delhi plan to go on a one-day strike on Friday in solidarity with their colleagues at Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital who are demanding better security.

The strike by junior and senior resident doctors from Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in east Delhi entered its fourth day on Thursday, paralysing OPD services after a doctor was allegedly manhandled on Sunday night.

Doctors at Hindu rao Hospital are also on strike. The resident doctors met Health Minister Satyendra Jain on Friday. However, the meeting was “inconclusive”, said doctors.

“We want security to be stepped up across hospitals and stocks of lifesaving drugs, PPE (personal protective equipment) and other essentials to be replenished. The meeting with the Health Minister was inconclusive,”said Dr Anshuman Raheja, secretary, resident doctors’ association, GTB Hospital.
“We have decided to continue with the strike. Other hospitals will join us in solidarity because the issues are the same across the hospitals,”  he added.

Resident doctors from other hospitals like RML Hospital, Maulana Azad Medical College, Safdarjung, Lady Hardinge, Hindu Rao, Ambedkar Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Maharishi Valmiki Hospital and ESI are likely to join the doctors of GTB in their agitation, according to a senior resident doctor of GTB.

Sources said doctors from other hospitals may continue to agitate with GTB doctors beyond Friday. “The final call will be taken later on Friday,” said a resident doctor.

If resident doctors across these Centre and state-run hospitals join the GTB in protest, OPD and emergency services across the city will be severely hit on Friday.

Two weeks back, the doctors at GTB had gone on a one-day strike after patient’s attendants roughed up a doctor on duty in the medicine ward. They resumed the strike this week.

According to doctors, they have repeatedly appealed to the hospital administration and the state health department about the lack of basic amenities in the hospital premises.

However, they end up bearing the brunt of non-availability of drugs, doctors said.

“We have chosen to take this drastic step because of the apathy of the hospital adminstration. There have been no attempts made by the health department to improve the situation,” said Dr Raheja.