The cease-work agitation of the Junior Doctors’ Association (JDA) of the MKCG Medical College here entered its third day on Saturday with the association announcing that the stir would continue till its demands are met. Since more than 200 doctors have joined the agitation, the health services in the MKCG Medical College Hospital have been severely affected causing inconvenience to the patients.
A pregnant woman was reportedly refused treatment due to the doctors’ strike. However, hospital Superintendent Dr Ashok Behera denied the allegation that any patient has been deprived of treatment.
The JDA said the college authorities are yet to take any step to fulfil the longstanding demands of the junior doctors. On Friday, the junior doctors sat on a dharna in front of the college main gate and then took out a procession. The JDA’s demands include supply of the required equipments to the Casualty Centre to effectively address the emergency health services and making the existing security system more stringent.
During the doctors’ agitation, hundreds of patients are found standing in long queues in front of different wards of the Outdoor. Each ward which was earlier running with five to six doctors is now managed only with one or two doctors. While the average inflow of new patients to the gynaecology ward is 25 to 30 a day, the number was 15 on Friday.
A pregnant woman, Sajani, wife of Pramod Nahak of Sundarpur under the Chhatrapur police circle, was initially admitted in the Chhatrapur Sub-Divisional Hospital, and when she was shifted to the MKCG hospital she was denied service on the ground that there was no doctor on duty in the labour room, alleged a relative of the patient. As a result, she had to be admitted in the City Hospital at a critical stage.
Similarly, another gynaecology patient of village Belaguntha who was getting severe pain was also denied treatment and referred to some other hospital, sources said. According to reports, a large number of serious patients are moving towards Visakhapatnam-based hospitals apprehending risks to their lives at the MKCG. Meanwhile, Nurses’ Association president Bhagabati Mohanty and secretary Prabha Danguar have extended their support to the JDA’s demands.
However, the MKCG hospital superintendent claimed that healthcare services are normal and there is no impact of the JDA’s strike. No patient has so far been denied treatment and those going to other hospitals are doing it at their own discretion, he said. According to information, a team of Health Department officials would visit the MKCG college on Monday to discuss the problems with the JDA.