Docs’ stir at top public hospitals cripples services – ET HealthWorld

New Delhi: Patient services, including elective surgeries and trauma care, were severely affected at Delhi’s top public hospitals — Safdarjung, Ram Manohar Lohia (RML), Lady Hardinge and others — on Monday as resident doctors stayed away from work to protest against the delay in NEET-PG counselling.

Services were also affected partially at Lok Nayak, Guru Teg Bahadur and other hospitals where resident doctors decided to boycott OPDs. “We will continue protesting until the government meets our demands. Till now, we have only got assurances,” said Dr Anuj Aggarwal, general secretary of Resident Doctors’ Association of Safdarjung Hospital.

At RML, the resident doctors said their protest would continue on Tuesday. “Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya met us and appealed to call off the strike based on his verbal assurance to expedite the NEET-PG counselling. We informed him that the agitation would continue till a written assurance was given,” said an RDA member.

Hundreds of patients who had come to seek treatment had to return or wait for hours to get medical attention. Some of them were critically ill. Virendra, a kidney patient, was writhing in pain outside Safdarjung Hospital even as his mother struggled to get him admitted. After hours of wait, he was advised to go to AIIMS.

Uttam Kumar, a resident of Sultanpuri, had rushed his wife to the emergency unit of Safdarjung Hospital as she was facing breathing difficulty. But she couldn’t be admitted.

Dr Sunil Kumar, director general of health services, appealed to the resident doctors in the evening to call off the strike. “Strike is not a solution. Rather, it is the problem as it accentuates a patient’s plight and harasses them beyond imagination. It’s the most avoidable method of agitation,” he added.

The protests have been going on since last month. “We had met the Union health minister in November and he had assured action, but nothing happened. On Saturday again, we again intimated the authorities about our planned strike, but to no avail,” said a doctor at GTB Hospital.

In a letter to Mandaviya, Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association had on Saturday said healthcare institutions across the country were running short of workforce with no admissions done in the current academic year. “With the Covid-19 pandemic waves looming large, the situation will be disastrous for the healthcare sector and the country’s population,” it added.

“There seems to be no initiative or measure taken yet for expediting the (NEET-PG) counselling. Therefore, we have decided to escalate our agitation further and withdraw all services (routine and emergency) in healthcare institutions from Monday,” stated the letter.