Medical services hit in Delhi as doctors go on daylong strike

OPDs will remain shut till 2 pm, however, emergency services will operate normally

Services at some private and government hospitals in Delhi were hit on Tuesday, as the Indian Medical Association have gone on a strike to protest against the atrocities faced by doctors.
 
The Delhi Medical Association has urged its members, owners of hospitals and nursing homes to keep their out-patient departments (OPDs) shut till 2 pm. Emergency services will however operate normally in all hospitals.
 
Hospitals like Max and Apollo have cancelled all their OPD appointment scheduled for today and have extended their support to bandh.
 

More than one lakh doctors from across the country are participating in the strike in support of IMA’s “Dilli Chalo” rally. Over 300 doctors from Maharasthra, 350 from Gujarat and 400 from Kerala will be participating in the protest, reported Hindustan Times.

 
The protesting doctors in the Capital will march from Rajghat to Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. “We need free mind and protection to treat the patient,” IMA President KK Aggarwal told ANI. “We want autonomy of medical profession and education.”
 
In order to take a conscious effort to change the trend, the Centre had constituted an inter-ministerial committee in 2015 to suggest measures to ensure safety of the doctors. In order to deal with the problem, they suggested the creation of a Central Act with stringent measures like considering violence against a doctor, a non-bailable offence.
 
The IMA has also called for a ‘pen-down’ satyagraha, under which no doctor wrote a prescription for an hour between 10 and 11 am.

 
It will also launch a signature campaign, on social media and has urged all doctors to collect thousands of signatures which will then be sent to the Centre to demand justice.




Their issues range from the rising violence against doctors and health care staff at hospitals, criminal prosecution, conviction and sentence in medical practice and medical negligence. Read more