Patients hit hard as 20,000 docs on leave

New Delhi: OPD services were affected on Thursday in major hospitals across the city as over 20,000 resident doctors went on a mass casual leave in solidarity with their counterparts in Maharashtra.

The strike was called from 9 am to 4 pm, affecting the OPD services in the morning hours and elective surgeries across hospitals. However, resident doctors in the emergency ward did not participate in the strike.

Bansuri Devi, who had come to Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Hospital to get her son checked for an ear infection, said that doctors were not available and she will have to come the next day. However, some patients said that even though doctors were not available initially, the situation eased after some time.

“Doctors were shifted from other departments to the OPD so that patients are not turned away,” said an official of the hospital, which sees a huge rush from across Delhi.

Services were also affected in hospitals like Safdarjung, Ram Manohar Lohia, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, etc. The doctors were protesting against the frequent attacks on doctors by irate relatives of patients in various parts of Maharashtra in the past few weeks.

“Both the administration and government think if they are restricting the public, it affects their votebank. They think that by default, it is the doctor at fault,” said Pankaj Solanki, president of the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association.

Doctors at AIIMS continued to stage protest by wearing helmets to duty and a black cloth on their arms for the second day on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Medical Association (DMA) has called for doctors under it to go on strike on Friday and has demanded a Central act against violence on doctors, complete security at all hospitals and booking of culprits involved in assaulting doctors.

Also, Ganga Ram Hospital said its general and private OPDs would remain closed on Friday, in solidarity with the DMA and Indian Medical Association.

Over 4,000 resident doctors in Maharashtra have been staying away from work since Monday demanding better security at hospitals in the wake of a string of attacks on their colleagues in the state.