Scores of doctors at several government and private hospitals in Delhi, including AIIMS and Safdarjung, are holding demonstrations by boycotting work, marching and raising slogans to express solidarity with their protesting colleagues in Kolkata.
Junior doctors in West Bengal are on strike since Tuesday after two of their colleagues were attacked and seriously injured allegedly by relatives of a patient who died at NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
Doctors under the banner of the Resident Doctors' Association (RDA) held out marches in the AIIMS campus today, with many wearing bandages on forehead or helmets. Doctors at Centre-run Safdarjung Hospital and Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital also joined the protest.
Several doctors of Delhi government hospitals, Lok Nayak Jayaprakash (LNJP) Hospital, Dr BR Ambedkar Medical College and Hospital, DDU Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences, and private hospital like Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Friday also joined the stir.
Thousands of patients were left in lurch despite emergency services being pressed by the government. There has been no solution in sight so far as patients complained of being turned away. This is an unprecedented scenario where doctors in different cities across India have called a strike.
Meanwhile, the Indian Medical Association has called for a nationwide shutdown on June 17. Doctors are demanding security for themselves.
Mass resignation by doctors in West Bengal
In the wake of cease-work at state-run hospitals in West Bengal, doctors of four Medical colleges on Friday submitted mass resignations.
In a letter to the Director of Medical Education and Ex-officio Secretary, more than 70 doctors of R.G. Kar Medical College submitted their resignations. AAs per informed sources, the number of doctors putting their papers down is rising steadily.
"We the following doctors of R.G. Kar Medical College have so far been trying our level best to run the hospital service smoothly. You are aware that the present situation is not ideal for patient care service," the doctors wrote.
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