Hyderabad: The Telangana State Indian Medical Association and Telangana Super Speciality Hospitals Association will boycott out-patient and in-patient services on Monday, as part of a nation-wide protest against violence towards medical professionals.
The protest was triggered by the attack on doctors in Kolkata. In Kolkata, the doctors who are spearheading the strike for five days now have refused an offer for talks by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
They demanded that she apologise for saying that the strike was being led by “outsiders”, implying that it was politically motivated.
TSHA senior member Govind Hari said, “We are going to not only boycott out-patient but also in-patient services as it is important that people understand that violence against the medical fraternity is not right. Elective surgeries will be postponed and patients are being informed in advance. There will not be any admissions for elective surgeries the night before which is the norm.”
Patients who have already been admitted will be cared for. The hospitals have called patients and postponed all elective surgeries scheduled on Monday to Tuesday.
Dr Sanjiv Singh Yadav, secretary of TS IMA, said, “We are not admitting patients and they have been informed that there would be no surgeries on Monday. These are being postponed for Tuesday or will be carried out over the week. It is going to be a total shutdown except for emergencies.”
He said that the government must ensure the protection of doctors and the people must understand that they cannot take doctors for granted.
“We want the government to implement the legislation and ensure complete protection to doctors,” Dr Yadav said.
Hospitals have put up banners that there is a protest and patients must not come on Monday.
