Thousands of patients suffered across Uttar Pradesh as doctors of government and private hospitals went on a day-long strike on the call given by Indian Medical Association in support of the agitating doctors of West Bengal.
The doctors of West Bengal were on strike after two junior resident doctors of NRS Medical College and Hospital were assaulted following death of a patient.
Over 50,000 government and private doctors joined the strike in the UP. However, emergency services were kept out of the strike.
Though the UP government had enforced Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to keep the health services functioning, it was not too keen to initiate action against the agitating doctors.
In Lucknow, the VVIP Sanjay Gandhi Post-graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) suspend its OPD services and cancelled all surgeries in view of the IMA call for strike.
Similarly, the working in the OPDs was hampered in King George’s Medical University (KGMU), Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and other government hospitals in the state capital. All surgeries lined up for Monday were also cancelled.
In the state capital, several private pathology labs and diagnostics centres kept their shutters down in support of the agitating doctors.
In Varanasi, health services in Sir Sundarlal Hospital (SSH) of Banaras Hindu University and many other government hospitals were affected by the doctors’ strike.
As junior doctors stayed away from work, the senior doctors looked after the old patients but they did not examine new patients.
Hundreds of patients coming from different parts of not only Purvanchal but also from adjoining districts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand, faced a lot of inconvenience in the scorching heat due to the strike.
The impact of the strike was also seen in many other government hospitals, including Shree Shiv Prasad Gupta Hospital and Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital.
Reports of strike by the doctors also came from SN Medical College Hospital in Agra, Kamla Nehru Hospital in Prayagraj, GSVM Medical College Hospital in Kanpur, BRD Medical College Hospital in Gorakhpur and other places of the state.
The doctors took out a march, carrying a banner which said ‘Justice for NRSMC doctors, in various cities and held meetings under the banners of their respective IMA branches.
The doctors of the NRSMC Hospital in Kolkata were on strike since Tuesday last after 200 people attacked them when an aged patient died due to heart attack in the hospital. In the attack, two resident doctors received critical injuries and were admitted to the hospital.
