Patients hit as govt docs strike work in Delhi

Public hospitals together treat around 50,000 people in the out-patient clinics every day, with nearly 40% patients from outside the state. Hundreds of scheduled surgeries were also postponed.

Routine services like out-patient clinics and diagnostics were severely affected in almost all government hospitals across Delhi, as at least 15,000 resident doctors went on a strike demanding a central law to check violence against medicos and other health care professionals.

Routine services like out-patient clinics and diagnostics were severely affected. (PTI Photo)

Public hospitals together treat around 50,000 people in the out-patient clinics every day, with nearly 40% patients from outside the state. Hundreds of scheduled surgeries were also postponed.

“With all of the resident doctors on strike, we were unable to run the out-patient clinics at all. The senior faculty members ran the emergency department, the wards, and the intensive care units. All routine surgeries had to be cancelled too,” said Dr Kishore Singh, medical director of Lok Nayak hospital. The hospital sees nearly 80 routine surgeries daily.

Vinod Kumar Sharma, whose son needs to undergo an intestinal surgery at the hospital, has been waiting to get his tests done since Friday. “The surgery will be planned once all the tests are done. But for the tests, we need the doctors to sign it off and give a date. That hasn’t happened yet. I understand the doctors’ concern, but it is not justified that patients suffer like this,” he said.

Across the road, Delhi government’s only super speciality hospital GB Pant was also admitting only emergency cases.

Nazin, whose mother was recently diagnosed with rectal cyst, went to the hospital for a surgery. “There is some bleeding from the rectum and a doctor at a private hospital suggested that she get a surgery as soon as possible. So, I took her to GB Pant. Doctors gave her some medicines but did not start the process of admitting her for the surgery. They asked us to come back on Tuesday,” he said.

On Monday, the medicine ward at Safdarjung hospital was almost deserted. It is usually overcrowded and patients have to lie on gurneys and on the floor in the corridors.

“Friday onwards, hardly any patient has been admitted. So, it is quite empty. Usually, the ward is so full that the queue of relatives snakes outside the ward to the staircase. The senior doctors are doing rounds and giving medicines as needed,” said a guard at Safdarjung hospital.

Although the out-patient clinics were open, only a few doctors manned them.

Health care services at government hospitals in the national Capital have been partially affected since Friday when four of the biggest tertiary care hospitals went on a strike. Around 22 other government hospitals followed suit the next day in support of the agitating doctors in West Bengal who went on strike last Tuesday after a junior doctor from Kolkata’s Nil Ratan Sarkar (NRS) Medical College and Hospital sustained a skull fracture from an attack by the relatives of a patient who had died.

“There was a huge impact in Delhi with almost all the government hospitals on strike. We hope that now the government will take action on the doctors’ demands,” said Dr Sumedh Sandanshiv, president of the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA).

Studies suggest that around 75% of all doctors in India have faced violence at work — either verbal or physical. A survey done by the IMA to look at ways to curb it found that 90% of the patients wanted doctors acknowledge and address them, 92% wanted doctors to listen, 89% wanted the doctors to explain what the illness is, what the line of treatment is and keep them informed throughout. Around 75% of the people also wanted their doctors to review – ask them if they understood and, if not, help them understand.

Doctor attacked

At around 2 am at the emergency ward of AIIMS trauma centre, attendants of a patient allegedly misbehaved with a doctor and abused him. The doctor complained about the incident at Safdurjung Enclave Police station.

Police have booked two persons Rajkumar Yadav and Aman under section 107/151 of the CrPC and put them under preventive arrest. Further probe in the case is on, said police.