As the patients are being put to hardships across the State in the wake of the indefinite strike called by the Uttarakhand chapter of the Indian Medical Association, the Uttarakhand High Court on Wednesday directed the doctors and staff members of the hospitals and clinics to resume work immediately.
Patients should be admitted at the private clinics and their treatment should be started immediately by the doctors concerned, the order issued around noon on Wednesday said. The next hearing has been fixed on January 4.
Notably, the strike was called against the alleged apathy of the State government on arresting the accused involved in manhandling a senior doctor working at a private facility in Haldwani.
A mob was alleged to have attacked him after a patient had died of heart attack, citing medical negligence. The private medical practitioners went on strike on Tuesdayacross the State while their strike had been going on in Kumaon for a number of days.
However, till Wednesday noon, medical service in the private hospitals and clinics remained paralyzed as the private practitioners and those working from the clinics stayed away from work.
A PIl was filed in the Nainital High Court, pointing out that the doctors on strike to the woe of thousands of sick people and their relations should be acted against under the Essential Services Maintenance Act. Patients admitted at the private hospitals and clinics in Dehradun, Rishikesh, Haldwani, Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar and many other mountainous parts of the state kept on going through ordeal since the strike had started.
A Dehradun- based doctor said that they had been staying away from their work in response to the IMA- convened strike. “However, we have been taking care of those patients who need emergency medical service,” he said, adding that the State government must act with the doctors being at the receiving end of the unjustified mob fury. “There are instances galore of the doctors working with the private and government hospitals being manhandled by the family members of the deceased patients. This must stop,” he said.
Dr Asha Rawal, Dehradun district president of Indian Medical Association, said that following the direction of the High Court, doctors have resumed works at their respective private hospitals and clinics from Wednesday noon. She expressed hope that the State government would take measures to arrest the accused who had manhandled the doctor in Haldwani.
The strike impacted the State-run facilities as they were over- crowded with the administration facing problems in accommodating the patients, given the constraints of beds. The patients said they had to wait for hours before their turns came for examination.
However, there were many who sounded confused over whether the State-run hospitals were normally functioning or not. Dinesh Rawat, who sits at the online registration counter in Doon hospital, said that he had been getting a lot of calls enquiring whether Doon Hospital was also closed because of the strike. Rakesh Bisht, who was found standing outside a private clinic near MKP College Road waiting for the doctor, said, “This clinic is closed. I reached here for medical check- up as I have been running fever for the past ten days.”
In Doon Hospital, SR Singh Parmar, a local resident, said that he had been awaiting his turn for two hours for a general check-up here. “It is an ordeal for us. The sooner the strike ends the better for the suffering patients,” he said.