Protest rages as OP services in city hospitals go for a toss

Hyderabad: Outpatient services got affected in the major hospitals in the city as the doctors protested boycotting their OP duties as part of their indefinite strike against the recent rape and murder of a female medical student at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

The patients coming to hospitals like Osmania, Gandhi, Sarojini and others had to leave after they saw doctors protesting. The patients were seen wandering at the registration counters with prescriptions in their hands. The doctors had boycotted the OPs on the call given by the Telangana Junior Doctors Association (T-JUDA). The JUDA had urged the post-graduate, senior residents, super specialty residents and house surgeons to boycott services.

The doctors at Gandhi Hospital staged a sit in at the entrance raising slogans like ‘Gandhi stands with RG Kar Medical College’. The doctors were holding placards with slogans such as ‘No security No Service’, ‘We demand Justice for victim’, ‘Hands that heal should not bleed’, ‘Save the Doctors’. One of the doctors said that the death of the medico student was a loss for the society as she was serving her parents, her colleagues, and patients. The culprits involved in rape and murder should be awarded a capital punishment, they demanded.

A junior doctor said that such incidents were repeating many times. There should be 24-hour security for the doctors in the hospitals. Another doctor said that their profession is similar to that of the IAS. “The government should ensure guidelines of NMC are followed. The only one thing we request is, the NMC should take the opinion of the stakeholders including government and private doctors before framing the laws,” they said.

Panchayat Raj Minister D Anasuya (Seethakka) who visited the hospital expressed her solidarity with the protesting medicos and strongly condemned the incident. She said that there is no life without women and it was a painful incident losing a medical student. She said that drugs and ganja were also becoming reasons for the incidents of crime against women. In the coming days, along with laws, awareness will also be brought by the government, said Seethakka.

The services were affected at places like Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, Osmania Dental College, Fever Hospital at Koranti and other places.