Delhi: Emergency patient services hit as resident doctors continue strike

For the last three days, patients from these hospitals are being referred to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the Delhi government’s Lok Nayak hospital.

Patient services at Delhi’s central government-run hospitals were severely affected as the strike by resident doctors’ entered 12th day, with medics at Ram Manohar Lohia, Safdarjung, and Lady Hardinge Medical College withdrawing even from emergency services.

Resident doctors protest against the delay in NEET-PG counselling 2021, at Safdarjung Hospital, on Wednesday. (Amal KS/Hindustan Times)

For the last three days, patients from these hospitals are being referred to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the Delhi government’s Lok Nayak hospital. But, doctors from Lok Nayak hospital have also decided to boycott emergency work Thursday onwards.

Lok Nayak is also the designated hospital for treatment and isolation of those suspected to have the new omicron variant infection.

“Even after boycott by many institutions in Delhi, we continued to run emergency services, but the apathy of the government and the plight of overburdened residents have brought us to a total boycott of services including OPD, OT, ward, and emergency services from Thursday,” said a letter by the resident doctors’ association to the dean of Maulana Azad Medical College that is associated with Lok Nayak hospital.

The doctors have been protesting delays in conducting NEET-PG counselling, which has left medical college-hospitals with only two-thirds the number of resident doctors -- considered the backbone of medical care at these hospitals. The doctors say that they have been overworked, and in addition over 42,000 medical students are losing out on a year of education.

The counselling has been delayed due to the Supreme Court was hearing a bunch of petitions regarding economic reservation in the examination (NEET-PG).