Doctors boycotted elective medical services in government and private hospitals, staged protests and took out rallies across Telangana on Monday against the attack on two junior doctors in West Bengal.
They condemned the attack on the junior doctors at a Kolkata hospital allegedly by the relatives of a patient, who died on June 10. Doctors in Bengal have been protesting since June 11 and many of them have resigned from service en masse, demanding adequate security at hospitals.
The protest by Telangana doctors is in solidarity with their Bengal counterparts and in support of the 24-hour strike call given the Indian Medical Association.
The doctors staged sit-ins, took out rallies near hospitals in Hyderabad and other parts of the state, hitting medicare services.
Holding placards that read "SAVE DOCTORS" and "Zero Tolerance To Healthcare Violence", they raised slogans for special protection law and sought security to prevent more attacks. They demanded that a commission be set up to probe the attacks on doctors.
In Telangana too, doctors have been attacked for alleged medical negligence in the past.
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A health department official said emergency services were unaffected due to the protest.
Reports said attendants and relatives of some patients expressed their ire over disruption in medical services due to the one-day protest.
Their problem was compounded as members of Telangana Junior Doctors Association (TJUDA) too abstained from elective duties in government hospitals and colleges Monday against the state government's decision to increase the age of retirement of professors in medical colleges from 58 to 65.
Junior doctors, under the banner of TJUDA, staged protests across Telangana.
"We are protesting by boycotting elective duties," TJUDA chairman P S Vijayender told PTI.