Little has changed at GTB Hospital since docs' strike

Doctors at Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital said little has changed since they called off the strike after being promised better security measures in the premises.

More number of patient attendants which doctors claimed was the primary reason behind the increasing number of assault cases on them still continues unabated.

Following a meeting with Health Minister Satyendra Jain, doctors said they were promised more than three patient attendants would not be allowed in the wards.

“Six Delhi police personnel have been deployed in the premises. But the outsourcing of the security guards which was supposed to be with immediate effect is still pending,” said Dr Anshuman Raheja, secretary, resident doctors’ association, GTB Hospital.

“There is no cap yet on the number of patient’s relatives who can be let in,” Raheja added.
Doctors recently went on a five-day strike at the hospital after a resident doctor was allegedly manhandled by a patient’s relatives.

This is the second incident in the last three weeks, they had said.
Resident doctors from other 14 hospitals had joined the strike for a day to show solidarity with the cause.

The strike was called off after they were assured better security measures by the state Health Minister.

Doctors have repeatedly complained that they bear the brunt of the non-availability of medicines and other essential kits at the hospital.

They had also demanded better stocks in life-saving drugs.A few doctors have also drawn flak from hospital administration after they asked patients to get tests done from outside.

“We are at the receiving end from both the sides. The hospital administration sent us memos in a few cases after we asked patients to get a few tests done from outside,” said a junior resident doctor, requesting anonymity.

No medical kits

“There is non-availability of important kits at the hospital. In some other cases, there was no container in which the sample could be sent for testing. So we ordered viles from outside,” he said.

“The onus should be on the hospital administration, not us for the non-availability of these,” the doctor added in his statement.

The resident doctors had demanded that the non-availability of drugs be listed outside every department to avoid confusion among patients.

Only outside the emergency, the list of available drugs is available for the patients.
“These details are available only in very few departments till now,” said Dr Ashwin Kumar.
It will take another 15-20 days before the availability of drugs improves at the hospital, said doctors.

“We are working on the areas pointed out by doctors. Some of the proposals have already been implemented. Once the minutes of the meeting (with the Health Minister) are available with us, the other changes can be implemented,” said Dr B K Jain, medical superintendent, GTB Hospital.