The out-patient services at all private hospitals and nursing homes were suspended in Anantapur district on Monday in support of an all-India strike call given by the Indian Medical Association.
The out-patient registration was suspended for two hours from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and the junior doctors joined the Government Doctors' Association members in organising a token strike opposing the recent brutal attack on doctors at a hospital in West Bengal .
The doctors displayed placards and banners and raised slogans against the attack in Kolkata, and said they also demand protection of doctors' community from such violent attacks.
Patients waited outside registration counters at the Government General Hospital in Anantapur in the hope that the doctors would return to work.
At KIMS Saveera Hospital and other private nursing homes there were no doctors and patients not knowing about the strike had to return. The in-patient services, however continued without any interruption.
Government Physician K. Veerabhadraiah said the security of doctors had become a big problem worldwide and in India 20% of the victims were emergency wing doctors. "We demand improvement in the work environment with better security for all doctors to avoid incidents like those in Bengal," he added.
GGH Superintendent A.Jagannath said the operations and othe medical procedures continued normally at the Hospital after 11 a.m.
