JOIN USDoctors to go on nationwide strike on Monday
Outpatient departments in hospitals across the country may remain shut on Monday with the Indian Medical Association calling for a nationwide suspension of non-essential services to express solidarity with Kolkata doctors who are protesting against violence after some of them were attacked by a mob on Tuesday.
The withdrawal of OPD services would be preceded by two days of protests on June 15 and 16 during which doctors would wear black badges and participate in sit-in agitations and peace marches, India's largest association of doctors said in a press statement.
“On Monday, all non-essential services including the OPDs will be withdrawn for 24 hours from 6 am to 6 am the next day. All emergency and casualty services will continue to function,” said the IMA statement.
As the doctors' strike snowballed into a major nationwide issue, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan blamed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to precipitate the crisis in the first place.
“She (Banerjee) gave the doctors an ultimatum and as a result, they got angry and went on strike. I appeal to her not to make it a prestige issue,” Vardhan said here.
He wrote a letter to Mamata in which he appealed to her to adopt a “compassionate approach” towards doctors who “work for long hours under stressful conditions.”
“It is a matter of concern that the agitation by doctors in West Bengal is not heading towards resolution, but seems to be getting aggravated. Better communication with doctors and a compassionate approach to take care of the genuine problems being faced by them in day to day functioning would definitely be helpful in tiding over the crisis,” Vardhan wrote.
“The entire country is being adversely affected due to developments in West Bengal and therefore ensuring an amicable end to the agitation will be beneficial and is strongly warranted,” he added.
On Friday doctors' protests spread from the eastern metropolis to several other cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Raipur disrupting the medical services at some of the hospitals in those cities.
Resident doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi went on a token strike for the day disrupting the out-patient and diagnostic services. They were joined by their counterparts in Maulana Azad Medical College and Safderjung Hospital.
Doctors at Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad and Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Memorial Hospital, Raipur too expressed their solidarity with the agitating doctors at NRS Medical College in Kolkata.
The NRS doctors began their protests on Tuesday after a 200-plus mob thrashed them following the death of a 75-year-old patient. The mob broke the skull of one of the doctors who underwent a surgery. A second doctor was also injured.
Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors observes a one-day strike in solidarity. “We are shutting down our OPD, ward and academic services from 8 am to 5 pm on Friday. Emergency services will not be hampered,” it said in a statement.