The boycott of duty by junior doctors has hit patients hard at Osmania General Hospital (OGH). Despite alternative arrangements, patients are facing postponement of elective surgeries, appointments, angry rebukes from overworked senior doctors and inordinate delays in treatment.
The relative calm in the casualty wing of the hospital on Tuesday was in stark contrast to patients turning furious at the inpatient and outpatient wings.
“We have been waiting for over two hours to meet the doctor. Some senior physicians are clearly irritated with us. Why is the government silent on this issue? Why can’t they hold talks with the junior doctors and restore normalcy at the hospital?” asks Abdul Rauf, a patient at the outpatient wing of OGH.
Senior doctors posted at the casualty said they were overworked and were having tremendous workload owing to the ongoing strike. An in-service house surgeon at OGH on condition of anonymity said: “Instead of two or three duties assigned to us regularly, we are now working for more days a week.”
In fact, a group of in-service PG students on Monday approached OGH Superintendent Dr. Ram Dass and officially lodged a complaint about being “overburdened” with work.
Several attenders expressed anger over the hospital staff taking a lot of time to attend to patients at night. “We have to plead with the staff to remove insulin bottles and administer injections,” a patient complained.
“We have made appropriate alternative arrangements. We have asked all our senior staff, faculty members from Osmania Medical College, APVVP doctors and in-service PG doctors to postpone their scheduled vacations.” said Dr. Ram Dass.
