Medical services were paralysed at Pt Bhagwat Dayal Sharma PGIMS on Saturday due to doctors’ strike. The doctors were protesting against the violent incident wherein attendants of a woman patient allegedly manhandled a doctor on duty at emergency ward of the hospital on Friday night.
Patients who had come here from different places of the State to get medical treatment had to either go back or move towards private hospitals owing to absence of the doctors in OPD as well as in the emergency wards. Only few doctors were available at the casualty ward while the nurses were also roped in to help the doctors in providing first aid to the patients. Residents and PG doctors of the hospital remained on strike till filing of the news. They were adamant on their demand of registration of case against the accused besides ensuring their safety and security in the emergency ward.
A 22-year-old woman from Khanda village (Sonepat) who had consumed some poisonous substance was brought to the casualty ward of PGIMS late on Friday evening. After some time, her attendants allegedly engaged in a verbal duel with a doctor on duty over some issue. The verbal duel turned violent when the infuriated attendants allegedly manhandled with the doctor and created ruckus in the casualty ward. The attendants fled from the ward before other doctors reached there after getting information about the incident. While the patient was then shifted to the ward, doctors on duty at casualty ward immediately went on strike against the incident causing inconvenience to the patients admitted there.
Though the PGIMS Director Dr Chand Singh Dhull and other senior administrative officials tried to persuade the agitated doctors to join the duty but they did not relent stating that they would not come on duty until registration of case against the accused. “We are here to treat the patients, not to be humiliated. The authority has persistently been failed to ensure our security in the emergency ward as several incidents of manhandling with the doctors have taken place during a short span of time,” said a doctor on strike.
Earlier, PG and resident doctors gathered at medical campus and took out a protest march in general wards and OPD blocks on Saturday morning. Thereafter, they reached at Director’s office where they shouted slogans against the authorities for over an hour. Meanwhile, the PGIMS Director Chand Singh Dhull said senior doctors had been deputed in the casualty ward to treat the patients. “Doctors on strike have not so far apprised me of their demands. Manhandling with doctors is condemnable but the doctors should also understand their responsibility. Official action as per rule may also be taken against them if they do not join their duty soon,” he added.