Safdarjung Hospital doctors still on strike; small relief for patients

NDTV

New Delhi, 08 September 2010:  After a traumatic morning, there is some relief for patients at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital. Striking doctors are now setting up a makeshift OPD after several patients were turned away. The strike was called after a lady doctor was roughed up by relatives of patient who died of suspected dengue early on Tuesday morning.

 

The government has threatened to take action against the striking doctors and there have been several meetings this morning. The doctors are, however, still undecided over calling off the strike. In less than a month, this is second flash strike of junior doctors at the hospital, which is one of the biggest government hospitals in the Capital.

 

"They misbehaved with a lady doctor. She feels threatened. This is not the way one can work. The hospital allows in so many family members with patients. Why aren’t they stopped?’’ says Dr Chandrabhan, the President of Resident Doctors’ Association. The doctors now want increased protection from agitated families of patients who break through the security and attack them.

 

 

’’We understand that patients are vulnerable. But we as doctors cannot discharge our duties in such conditions,’’ says Dr Sunil Kumar, a member of the Resident Doctors’ Association. The hospital is planning to upgrade its security so that each patient is accompanied by maximum one relative only.

 

It is also considering invoking ESMA, the Essential Services Maintenance Act, which means a doctor striking work can get up to six months in jail. But as the doctors and the management slug it out, it’s the poor patients who once again are left in a lurch.