Most govt-run hospitals to suspend OPDs on strike day

With resident doctors going on strike on Thursday, most government hospitals in the city have decided to suspend outdoor patient department services that day.

While some hospitals have decided to cope with the patient load by posting senior doctors at the OPDs, other hospital heads said it would be difficult to handle patient traffic at the department.

“We have drawn up plans to handle the patient load on strike day. It will be difficult to even run skeletal OPDs. So the main registration would be closed. Departments which have few patients turning up will be able to run skeletal OPDs. The senior faculty members would be running emergency services and also handle ward areas,” said Dr Savita Babbar, medical director, Delhi government-run Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital.

Resident doctors form the backbone of running OPDs across hospitals. Patients coming for check-ups at hospital OPDs would be severely inconvenienced.

“The OPDs will be completely disrupted with resident doctors going on strike. With the limited resources, we will be able to run only the emergency department in addition to catering to the admitted patients,” said one of the medical superintendents at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital.

The Centre-run Ram Manohar Lohia hospital has decided to distribute the doctors available on duty across all departments so that patients are not turned away. The hospital has also decided to engage interns who will assist faculty members and nurses in handling emergency patients.

Safdarjung Hospital medical superintendent A K Rai said hospital OPDs will function normally.

The Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA), Delhi are going on strike demanding better pay structures for doctors. The doctors are disappointed with the recommendations of the Seventh Central Pay Commission (CPC) and have decided to go on a token strike. FORDA comprises doctors from state-run, Centre-run, MCD and NDMC hospitals.

“If the government does not respond to our demands by the end of the month, we will launch into an indefinite strike from June 1,” said Dr Pankaj SOlanki, president, FORDA.