Hyderabad: Patients left in lurch for an hour as doctors go on a strike

Hyderabad: For one hour, the out-patient departments were closed in all hospitals in the city as elective medical services were withdrawn by doctors on the call of the Indian Medical Association of a nationwide strike.

Private hospitals had no out-patient departments for one hour while public hospitals did not have out-patient departments for the whole day. Most elective operations were postponed.

In MNJ cancer hospital and OGH, patients who came from districts and villages for their appointments were in for a rude shock as they were told that doctors are on strike.

Mrs Ch Malla from Komrevalli who came to MNJ Cancer Hospital for a scheduled surgery was very upset as instead of being admitted, she had to locate a place to stay as surgery could not be taken up.

Similarly in the out-patient department and radiology department at OGH, patients were agitated as there were no doctors attending to them.

Those suffering in pain could not wait and opted for private hospitals as the emergency wing had only one doctor who was overloaded with trauma patients.

Dr Lalu Prasad, state president Telangana Government Doctors Association said, “The NMC Bill is not of any help to doctors of modern science. The exit exam is not acceptable as it will only give importance to theory and not bedside practice which is required for doctors. The bill is only going to help private medical college owners and not doctors who are safeguarding medical education.”