Private hospitals, nursing homes and clinics in various parts of Karimnagar district, which announced indefinite closure on Saturday, have decided to call off their agitation on Sunday evening following an assurance given by Health Minister Laxma Reddy to the Indian Medical Association (IMA) State unit.
The hospitals and clinics in the district continued to remain closed even on Sunday, in protest against the arrest of two surgeons T. Suresh Kumar and Manoj Kumar on the charges of conducting unnecessary appendicitis surgeries, in Jagtial division.
IMA State president K. Shyam Sunder said that the Health Minister had spoken to him over telephone and promised to discuss and solve their problem by convening a meeting on April 26 in Hyderabad. “The Minister asked the IMA to call off the agitation in the interest of patients and hence the IMA Karimnagar chapter has decided to call off the agitation and resume their duties from Monday,” he said.
He said that he had explained to the Health Minister the mental agony being caused to the medical fraternity following the arrest of the two surgeons under IPC Section 420 when the surgeries were conducted three years ago. The doctors were worried over the way the police had treated their counterparts while arresting them from their hospitals, he stated.
The IMA State and district leaders also met Collector Neetu Prasad, Superintendent of Police D. Joel Davis and DM&HO A. Rajesham, who also promised to look into their issues on a positive note. The IMA leaders have urged the DM&HO to expedite the process of issuing registration certificates to the qualified doctors at the earliest.
