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UP resident doctors’ strike ends at night after another day of hardship for patients
The resident doctors were on strike in protest against the brutal rape and murder of a woman resident doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9
After nine days, resident doctors on Thursday night decided to end their strike that badly affected OPD, elective surgery and related patient care work across medical institutes in the state.
The resident doctors were on strike in protest against the brutal rape and murder of a woman resident doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9. OPD and other services will resume normal functioning from Friday. Some resident doctors joined ward duty on late Thursday night.
The decision to call off the strike followed an appeal from the Supreme Court.
The apex court earlier in the day asked protesting doctors across the country to resume work and assured them that no adverse action would be taken after they rejoin.
“It was decided by resident doctors to continue the protest by wearing black ribbons and using other peaceful means, while resuming the suspended healthcare services from tomorrow, August 23,” said a press statement from a resident doctors’ association that comprises resident doctors of SGPGIMS, KGMU, RMLIMS, KSSSCIH in Lucknow.
“We will be compelled for escalation to stop all services if our demands are not met by authorities,” said a press statement from Resident Doctors Association Trust, a body of 4000 resident doctors in the state.
Earlier in the day, patients arriving at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) for treatment faced a tough time due to the strike. The situation was the same at other premier medical institutes such as King George’s Medical University (KGMU) and Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences (RMLIMS) in Lucknow.
For instance, Ankur, 35, arrived from Bihar after being referred by the doctors to get treatment for diabetes and blood in urine, but could not get admission at the SGPGIMS.
Owing to the strike, around 4,000 new patient registrations, which typically occur daily at the SGPGIMS OPD, were halted.
This left thousands of patients without access to essential medical consultations and treatments. The situation was even more difficult for cardiac patients requiring admission to the hospital. Patients who had previously been scheduled for procedures or those needing urgent care were refused admission due to the shortage of medical staff and they were left with no option but to go to private hospitals for urgent care.
At RMLIMS, a total 2358 patients were seen in the OPD while 35 surgical procedures were done. Usually, RMLIMS gets over 3200 patients every day in the OPD and conducts over 60 elective surgeries a day. At KGMU, a total of 5429 patients were seen, including 1450 new patients. Here, the OPD count remains over 7000 per day in normal circumstances.
“I have been waiting since Monday to get my father admitted for surgery,” said Raj Kumar, who came to KGMU from Bahraich with his father.
Apart from the OPD, at least 140 elective surgeries were postponed at KGMU daily and this added to the waiting list of the departments.
Senior doctors of the general surgery, orthopaedic surgery, gastro surgery, neuro-surgery, cardiac surgery and other such departments conducted some operations.
