A protest by government doctors in the district, who on Thursday took leave en masse and kept away from out-patient duties, struck patients hard in the fever-hit district.
The doctors were protesting against the failure of the police in arresting the accused in the attack on a female doctor at the Kayamkulam Taluk Hospital on May 22.
The impact of the protest was severe with the district already reeling under a combined attack by various fevers, including H1N1, dengue, Japanese Encephalitis, viral fever and a number of water-borne diseases. Though casualty and in-patient services had a bare presence of doctors, out-patient services in all State-run hospitals, particularly the single-doctor health centres in the remote areas of the water-logged Kuttanad, were hit hard.
The situation at the Vandanam Medical College Hospital and the Alappuzha General Hospital were no different with hundreds of patients who turned up at the OP wing had to return as the services of doctors were not available.
The doctors said the protest would be intensified if the “lethargy” on the part of the police continued. The incident occurred on May 22, when Dr. Rekha of the Kayamkulam Taluk Hospital was allegedly manhandled by a group of persons who accused the hospital staff of not attending to a patient properly. The list of accused drawn up by the police drew more protest when those named by the doctor in her complaint were left out of the list. Though the court interfered in the case and asked for a proper probe, no action had been taken so far, the doctors alleged.
