Health services in private and government hospitals across Jharkhand was paralysed on Wednesday as a large number of registered doctors observed token boycott of services in protest against repeated assaults on medicos in the state.
Emergency services are exempted from the purview of the protest, said Jharkhand Health Service Association (JHSA) and Jharkhand chapter of Indian Medical Association (IMA), who have jointly called for the boycott.
The Associations have demanded that the Medical Protection Act be implemented in the state and Clinical Establishment Act amended at the earliest for greater protection to the doctors. The protest follows the assualt of noted orthopaedic surgeon of Ranchi, Anchal Kumar at his residence by unidentified miscreants on Monday.
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The sadar hospital and the outpatient department (OPD) of Rajendra Institute of Medical Science (RIMS) in the Jhrkhand capital city wore a deserted look during the day due to it. A senior doctor of Ranchi’s Sadar hospital, Ajit Kumar said, “They (medicos) were on duty but OPD, lab and ultrasound services were affected in the hospital. However, all kinds of emergency services remained unaffected.”
At RIMS, doctors and teachers loyal to the Teachers Association and Junior Doctors Association stayed away from duty forcing the OPD to remain closed for the day. They, however, claimed that doctors attended indoor and emergency duties so that no patient suffered.
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In Jamshedpur, teachers of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College Hospital, doctors and medical officers of Sadar hospital, medicos of private clinics and nursing homes took out a rally to the deputy commissioner's office to lodge their protest. Doctors of Shahid Nirmal Mahto Medical College Hospital in Dhanbad boycotted OPD duty but attended the patients in the emergency department.
The IMA state coordinator Ajay Kumar Singh claimed that about 14,000 registered doctors of private clinics, nursing homes, government health centers and hospitals including six medical colleges of the state took part in the protest and boycotted work on Wednesday.
JHSA secretary Thakur Mritunjay Kumar Singh said, “It is the state government’s responsibility to provide security to doctors. Ironically, neither the governor nor any health official contacted the doctors’ bodies over the issue”.
He alleged that seven doctors were assaulted or insulted in the last two months in different districts of Jharkhand like Garhwa, Hazaribag, Lohardaga and Ranchi but no action was taken.Former Jharkhand health minister Bhanu Pratap Sahi raised the matter of doctors’ protest in the Assembly during the day and said government should intervene to resolve their issues.
Even though the government did not reply to Sahi in the House, state Health Minister Banna Gupta told reporters outside that government will talk to the doctors and resolve their concerns. On the assault of the Ranchi surgeon, Gupta said he has asked Ranchi senior superintendent of police to find the reason behind it and ensure stringent action in the case.
