Mumbai: Resident doctors across the State continued their strike for the second day on Tuesday. While emergencies were handled by senior doctors, hundreds of patients were turned away from the outpatient departments, and elective surgeries were postponed. With resident doctors forming more than 50 per cent of the overall strength in public hospitals, the services have taken a severe hit. But doctors refused to budge till some of their demands in terms of security were implemented immediately.
Dr. Pravin Shingare, head of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research, said if the doctors don’t join duty by Wednesday morning, suspension orders will be issued to each of them.
The doctors said their first demand of allowing only two relatives with one patient should be implemented in all hospitals. “While we have been given assurances, the ground reality remains the same. The hospital authorities continue to allow a large number of relatives. This is where the problem begins,” said a resident doctor, adding that each of the doctors has skipped work on individual basis as he or she doesn’t feel safe to work after a series of attacks on doctors. In the last 10 days, five incidents of violence against doctors have come to light. Of these, the first attack on March 12 in Dhule Civil Hospital was severe and the doctor stands at the risk of losing his vision.
“Time and again, the hospital authorities have only given assurances. But nothing concrete has been implemented in terms of security of the doctors,”said Dr. Sagar Mundhada, president of the youth wing of the Indian Medical Association (IMA). The civic body had given an assurance in June 2016 about having armed security men in hospitals. In 2011, the authorities had promised to introduce alarm systems and limited entry passes for the relatives. But non of this has been implemented thoroughly.
An security audit carried out in BMC-run hospitals last month revealed that KEM requires 306 security guards, but has 200, and Sion requires 206, but has 200, while Nair requires 133, but has only 100.
Dr. Avinash Supe, Dean of KEM Hospital, said manning old hospitals like KEM, Sion, and Nair is a challenge because they have large campuses and multiple entry and exit points. “It is not that the security issues have been left unattended. Getting more guards and introducing other initiatives is already in process,” he said, adding that KEM Hospital introduced a siren in three departments, including the casualty and emergency medical services. “We will also try to implement some help apps that can benefit doctors in a situation.”
On Tuesday, the civic body was in the process of taking action against the striking doctors and were preparing show cause notices as well.
IMA’s State secretary Dr. Pathiv Sanghvi said the brutality with which doctors have been beaten up over the past two weeks is unacceptable. “Not a single minister has issued a statement on this or expressed concern, which is extremely worrisome.”
