Treatment of patients and OPD services have been affected in most hospitals across the country due to ongoing protests by the doctors over the Kolkata rape and murder case. On the second day of their protests, the agitating doctors have refused to return to work, except for emergency procedures. The protest has intensified against the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Treatment at most hospitals in Kolkata affected
Treatment at most hospitals in Kolkata has been affected for the past two days after doctors joined the protest demanding justice in the case. Patients and their relatives have complained of inconvenience due to the protest in several hospitals in Kolkata and elsewhere.
Protesting doctors at King George's Medical University in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow gathered this morning and marched to the outdoor patients' department to stop work there. Because of the protests, various patients and their relatives were seen banging on the OPD's shut doors, demanding urgent treatment.
Patients face difficulties in Mumbai
The same scenario was witnessed in Mumbai where doctors in several prominent hospitals have joined the protest and the hospitals where the OPD services have been affected include JJ Hospital, Sion Hospital, Nair Hospital and King Edward Memorial Hospital.
Similar kind of situation was also witnessed at Delhi AIIMS where the number of daily surgeries are down by 80 per cent and admissions by 35 per cent after doctors started an indefinite strike over the Kolkata incident, news agency PTI reported.
AIIMS urges doctors to join work
In the meantime, the AIIMS authorities issued a circular and asked the agitating the doctors to join work and citing a High Court order that doctors cannot be part of protests on the premises. In the national capital, resident doctors from multiple hospitals, including centrally-run facilities AIIMS, RML Hospital and Safdarjung Hospital, began strike in the morning, causing hardships to patients who visited out-patient departments of the medical facilities only to be returned without any consultation.
On Monday, the Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) announced a nationwide halt in elective services in hospitals and in a letter to Union Health Minister JP Nadda, FORDA described the Kolkata incident as "perhaps the greatest travesty to have occurred in the history of the resident doctor community".
The resident doctors at government hospitals across the country held protests on Monday as the move comes in response to a call from the Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) which said the "strike won't stop unless justice is served and our demands are met".
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee pledged to transfer the case to the CBI if the state police fail to solve it by Sunday.
According to the FORDA, during the indefinite strike, outpatient departments (OPDs), operation theatres, and ward duties will be shut, but emergency services will continue to operate as usual.
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