JOIN USPatients suffered as OPD services were hit at the Centre-run Safdarjung Hospital as over 300 students from Vardhman Mahavir Medical College, Bara Hindu Rao and Army College of Medical Sciences agitated outside the OPD block.
The students blocked the department from 8 am to 12 noon paralysing OPD services at the hospital.
The emergency department was running.
“The OPD started functioning only after 12 noon. The medical students ended the agitation after the Directorate General of Health Services assured them to take care of the issue,” said a senior administrative official at Safdarjung Hospital.
The students demanded that the Delhi University should not take over the seats affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU).
There were proposals put forward for Delhi University to take over the seats. Students claimed that the seats should remain with the GGSIPU.
The students were given in writing that the affiliation of the colleges to GGSIPU would not be changed to DU.
Earlier, on Friday, the students had agitated at Safdarjung Hospital over the same issue.
According to students, students on the MBBS curriculum and those in the PG programme want the seats to remain with the Indraprastha University. Delhi University may introduce a state quota in which students of Indraprastha University in the MBBS programme may lose out while opting for higher studies, said students.
Nurses threaten strike
Medical services are likely to be hit across the national capital from Tuesday onwards with nurses at government hospitals launching an indefinite strike.
The nurses across Centre-run, Delhi government-run, MCD-run and NDMC-run hospitals will be on strike.
“The nurses have been betrayed as several of our demands have not been looked into despite our repeated requests. If the government does not meet our demands, we will be forced to carry on with the strike,” said a representative of All India Government Nurses Federation.
The nurses have demanded better pay conditions, risk allowances and work conditions.
The association has demanded that contractual nurses get special area allowance, higher education allowance and non-practising allowance. Railway nurses should be granted eight days off every month.
“We area ware that patients suffer if nurses go on strike but we are left with no option,” said the representative.