Healthcare services here remained partially hit for the second consecutive day on Saturday with many government and private hospitals, along with clinics and nursing homes, joining the protest in solidarity with their counterparts in Kolkata.
The protest follows an attack on a junior doctor at Kolkata’s NRS Medical College and Hospital by the relatives of a patient, who died there on Monday evening.
The doctors in Kolkata have been on strike since Tuesday. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) stated that violence against doctors is unacceptable and needs to be condemned. “The medical fraternity is very disturbed and concerned about the rising incidents of physical violence and assault on doctors and their staff,” it stated.
With helmets on
Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and other hospitals, including Safdarjung, Ram Manohar Lohia, Sanjay Gandhi, ESIC (Basaidarapur) and Chaha Nehru participated in the protest.
The doctors worked wearing bandages or helmets and held demonstrations.
A statement issued by the AIIMS Resident Doctors’ Association read: “Though we have gone back to work today [Saturday], the West Bengal government should ensure that doctors are offered a safe environment to work in. We want written assurance that our demands will be looked into.”
“The Centre had constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee, which had promised to enact a central Act for violence against doctors. But, sadly, this is yet to see the light of day. It is time for the medical fraternity to unite and stand firm till the government brings in a Bill to curb violence against doctors, in the coming Parliament session,” said former IMA chief K.K. Aggarwal.
“If the doctors and other healthcare staff are always under constant threat and pressure from ongoing violence and assault then they will not be able to do justice with their profession. Also, they will not be able to treat their patients properly and promptly,” he added.
The Progressive Medicos Scientists Forum (PMSF) stated that they hold the Mamata Banerjee-led government in W.B. responsible for letting the situation snowball to the present state through sheer lack of sensitivity for concerns of junior doctors.
“Her [Ms. Banerjee’s] suggestion that Kolkata’s resident doctors are not willing to see Muslim patients is preposterous and demeaning,” it stated, adding that many district hospitals are on the verge of collapse while public hospitals in big cities are becoming dysfunctional due to increasing workload. “Infrastructure is grossly short of requirements, the paucity of medical staff, and unavailability of medicines have caused immense suffering to patients. On the other hand, it has stressed out the medical staff, who find it difficult to meet the needs of the patients,” it stated.
