Hospital services return to normalcy

New Delhi: Medical facilities were back to normal at both private and government hospitals as doctors across the country resumed duties on Tuesday, a day after their colleagues in West Bengal called off their week-long strike after meeting chief minister Mamata Banerjee who assured them of steps to scale up security at the medical facilities. Patient care, which had taken a back seat due to doctors protest, became normal in most of the hospitals.

Junior doctors in West Bengal were on strike since last Tuesday after two of their colleagues were attacked and seriously injured allegedly by relatives of a patient who died at NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

In support of doctors in West Bengal, the Indian Medical Association had launched a four-day nationwide protest from Friday and written  to home minister Amit Shah demanding law to check violence against healthcare workers.

“With the decision of the protesting doctors of West Bengal to call off the strike, the resident doctors at AIIMS, New Delhi shall resume their duties with immediate effect. We sincerely hope that the central government shall soon bring in a new central law on doctors’ security as promised by Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan in a time-bound manner, failing which we would be forced to resort to strike in future,” Resident Doctors’ Association of the AIIMS said in a statement.