Protest: Bihar doctors to continue strike, medicare in disarray

The medical fraternity is protesting against alleged manhandling and misbehaviour with doctors of Bhojpur Sadar Hospital by some guards of Bhojpur district magistrate (DM) Sanjiv Kumar.

Medical services in the state are likely to remain affected for next two days, as the protesting doctors associated with the Bihar Health Services Association (BHSA) have decided to boycott work for next 48 hours after failing to get an assurance from the government.

Low attendance of patients at OPD counter of Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) after doctors protest alleged recently manhandling of three government doctors in Bhojpur in Patna, India, on Thursday, November 22, 2018 (Parwaz Khan /HT PHOTO)

The medical fraternity is protesting against alleged manhandling and misbehaviour with doctors of Bhojpur Sadar Hospital by some guards of Bhojpur district magistrate (DM) Sanjiv Kumar.

On Tuesday afternoon, Bhojpur DM had called all doctors of Ara sadar hospital to mark their attendance through video conferencing. Everyone expect Dr T Ansari followed the order. Dr Ansari later clarified that he could not go as he was on emergency duty attending patients. Other doctors too had protested against what they alleged was the DM’s arbitrary style of making them mark their daily attendance through video conferencing.

“Instead of taking a conciliatory approach, the Bhojpur DM issued three letters on Thursday threatening to take legal action against the doctors. This is highly objectionable. Therefore, a meeting of the BHSA on Thursday has decided to continue the protest and boycott OPD and other services for next two days,” said Dr Ranjit Kumar, general secretary of BHSA.

Ara adds:

The out patient department of government hospitals and private clinics at Ara remained closed on the call of Indian Medical Association (IMA), Thursday, disrupting medical services.

At a marathon meeting of the local chapter of Bihar state health services association (BSHSA) and IMA that continued for many hours, it was decided to act on the advice of BSHSA, said Dr Arun Kumar, working president, local chapter of the association and Dr Bijay Kumar Singh, president, local chapter of IMA. The doctors alleged that the edited version of a video has been made viral from which the assault on doctors has been deleted.

The Bhojpur DM, however, refuted all allegations and said everything was clear in the video.

Civil surgeon Dr Jagdish Singh said emergency ward of Ara sadar hospital was being managed by Ayush doctors. He said although doctors posted at the hospital did not attend OPD services, four doctors were asked to sit near the department so that no patient suffered.

DDC Shashank Shubhankar also met the civil surgeon on Thursday and asked him to ensure that patients coming to the sadar hospital did not suffer due to the doctors’ strike.

The district administration has set up a a control room on the hospital premises to help people coming there.