The entire medical system in various government hospitals across the state was literally non-existent due to the junior doctors’ strike. The junior doctors have boycotted emergency services from 5 pm on Friday. While at least 11 patients died in the emergency units of Gandhi Hospital, Osmania General Hospital also suffered cas-ualties. But, doctors dismissed the number of casualties as “routine figure of deaths” in emergency units.

The situation turned somewhat belligerent when a 13-year-old boy, Bhaskar, from Nalgonda died allegedly for want of medical attention. He was brought here after he fell from a tree on Friday. But no experts reportedly attended to him till morning. Because of the protesting junior doctors outside, senior doctors worked amid police security through the day.

Initially, the hospital administration, caught unawares by the boycott, couldn’t rope in senior doctors to attend to various emergency services. “Finally when they deputed PG students and home surgeons, the junior doctors prevented them from entering the emergency unit,” said a senior doctor. Junior doctors alleged inexperienced persons were handling emergency cases in many hospitals on Saturday. A physiotherapist was reportedly attending to a case of brain trauma; a ward boy was seen stitching the wound of an accident victim. More than half a dozen seriously injured accident victims were turned away from OGH.

Meanwhile, minister for medical education Kondru Murali came down heavily on the striking doctors saying they were playing with the lives of poor people to achieve their “unjustified demands”. Mr Murali alleged “political conspiracy” behind the strike. He dismissed reports that over 15 people died in various government teaching hospitals due to junior doctors boycotting emergen-cy duties. He said media was linking “normal deaths” in hospitals to the strike by junior doctors.