While the doctors’ strike in West Bengal has been called off, the nationwide strike called by Indian Medical Association will be in place till Wednesday 6 am.
The otherwise bustling premises of Bengaluru’s Victoria Hospital were considerably empty on Monday. There were no long lines of patients waiting to register their names to consult a doctor in the outpatient department, nor were there the usual queues at the free medicine dispensary. “We came to get a check-up for my mother-in-law, but because there is no staff in the outpatient departments (OPD), we were directed to the casualty, but there they said they would not see any patient who doesn’t require urgent attention,” laments 40-year-old Vanitha K, a resident of Bengaluru who has been turned away from the emergency room at Victoria Hospital. She, among several others, was asked to wait as doctors and medical personnel tended to more serious cases in the casualty department. A group of people had gathered after being told to wait by staff members. “Initially they asked us to come back tomorrow, but we are waiting here itself, in case they are able to see us today. It’s hard for us to travel so much daily,” adds Vanitha. For the past 24 hours, medical and healthcare services have been similarly hit, not just in Bengaluru but across major cities in India as doctors followed the Indian Medical Association’s call for a nationwide strike. A few kilometres away, at Bengaluru’s Townhall, doctors from across the state stood together seeking that their demands for safer working environments for doctors and medical personnel be met. Cries of “we want justice” and “nyaya beku” filled the air as several doctors were seen walking around with bandaged arms and heads, while others are carried picket signs. It all started last week, with the assault of a young student doctor from Kolkata. The doctor, who remains in critical care, was attacked by the relatives of a recently deceased patient, who had smashed the doctor’s head with a brick, resulting in a skull fracture. Following this, several doctors from the city began protesting against the increasing incidents of violence faced by doctors by family members of the patients. “We are here in solidarity protesting against the attack of the doctor at NRS Medical College in West Bengal and are here to raise the genuine safety concerns we doctors have. We are pleading with the government to implement the laws which exist for doctors’ safety and are asking that the laws be further strengthened,” said Dr Sharon Frederick, a member of the Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors (KARD) at the protest. While the doctors’ strike in West Bengal was called off on Monday after a delegation of doctors held a meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the strike called by Indian Medical Association will be in place till Wednesday 6 am. “Our intention is to highlight the problem that we are facing, we need a guarantee that we can do our jobs without having to be afraid of being attacked,” says one student doctor at the hospital on the condition of anonymity. “We don’t want to cause any harm to anyone, all emergency facilities are available, only electives are not. Even in some cases, our seniors are seeing patients in the casualty even if they are not emergency cases. We want to do our job too, but it’s high time that we are provided the security that we need.
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