Doctors bid to barge into health varsity

They pledge full support to Samaikyandhra stir

Members of Andhra Pradesh Government Doctors Association staging a protest at Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences as part of the ongoing Samaikyandra agitation in Vijayawada on Saturday. Photo: V. Raju

The doctors and staff nurses from Government General Hospital and Siddhartha Medical College took out a rally from the Dr.NTR University of Health Science administrative building to the Benz Circle and formed a human chain, protesting against the proposed bifurcation of the State.

Under the banner of AP Government Doctor’s Association (APGDA), the men and women in white coats pledged full support to the APNGOs in the ongoing Samaikyandhra agitation.

“We could have struck work like others, but since we belong to a sector that comes under emergency services and it concerns health and well-being of general public, we are observing the protest by organising some programme or the other on the campus for an hour on a daily basis,” said Dr. S.S.V. Ramana, convenor of the APGDA JAC.

Talking to

The Hindu , APGDA State general secretary Ganapathi said medical aspirants, especially the PG and super-speciality students, from the Seemandhra region will be hit badly if the State was to be bifurcated. Most of the super speciality courses are based in Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad region. “In the event of bifurcation, the students of Seemandhra region would be treated as non-locals and only a very few would get admission,” he said. APGDA State president Ram Mohan said a majority of the government MBBS seats were also located in the Telangana region.

Earlier in the day, the doctors and the staff nurses tried to barge into the university administrative building to submit a memorandum to the Vice-Chancellor and were engaged in a minor tussle with the security forces. The main gate of the university was closed and a few doctor tried to jump the gate and they were physically prevented by the security personnel. A few of them were later allowed to meet the V-C.