Jr docs resume duty at PMCH after 4 days

Strike called off after government’s assurance to look into their demand for proper security at the hospital campus.

PATNA: After four days, postgraduate medical students at the Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) called off their strike on Monday, following the government’s assurance to look into their demand for proper security at the hospital campus, said Dr. Manoranjan Kumar, former president of the Junior Doctors’ Association (JDA) of the PMCH.

At PMCH on Monday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

Earlier in the day, Pratyaya Amrit, additional chief secretary (ACS), health, the government of Bihar, told a delegation of the JDA that the government would look into their demands, and advised them to resume duty.

“We resumed our duties in different departments of the PMCH by 4 pm today, following a fruitful meeting the JDA had with the ACS. We requested the ACS to provide us armed security guards in the hospital and also enforce the one-patient-one-attendant norm to avoid crowding and also for the safety of doctors,” said Dr. Kumar, who’s an examinee batch postgraduate student in the department of paediatrics, PMCH.

“While assuring to provide able-bodied security guards in the emergency, Amrit said it was the mandate of the hospital to implement the one-patient-one-attendant norm and the government would step in only if there were some issues in enforcing it,” said Dr. Kumar.

Dr Ashok Kumar Jha, associate professor of surgery and deputy superintendent of PMCH, said the hospital has rejigged security measures.

“We have assigned 10 private security personnel each to the emergency at the paediatrics, medicine, surgery, gynecology departments and five at the ENT. The guards will report to the physician or the surgeon on duty (POD/SOD). To ensure their presence and accountability, their salaries will only be disbursed on the basis of a satisfactory report from the POD/SOD. Another 15-20 guards will remain scattered on the hospital campus,” said Dr Jha, adding that at least two guards will accompany a doctor on rounds to see patients in the emergency.

The junior doctors had boycotted work from September 22.