Hyderabad: Posters asking doctors to declare their nativity or face severe action created tension at Gandhi Hospital on Tuesday.
The posters were put up early on Tuesday morning outside the entrance of the main hospital building.
There are 320 doctors in Gandhi Hospital, 60 per cent of whom are from Andhra Pradesh. Majority of them are women and they were visibly upset with the posters.
Dr M.V. Bhimeshwar, who saw the poster at the entrance questioned the need to put up such a poster in the hospital.
The poster led to arguments and clashes between Telangana and Andhra groups. It also led to the burning of an effigy of the Kamalnathan Committee. The arguments continued till noon and most doctors left in a huff, irritated with the attitude of their colleagues from the other state.
A senior doctor from AP said, “The doctors from Telangana are not ready to understand that the governments of both the states have to decide. They merely ask us to leave and go to our state. Till the transfer order is issued or a clear stand taken by both governments, we can’t leave our jobs.”
The nativity clause has been registered in the service record and also uploaded on the website. Dr Venkat Reddy of the Telangana Gandhi Medical Association said, “There is fear that many doctors from Andhra Pradesh have changed their nativity status with bogus records. This speculation has created a lot of animosity amongst doctors.”
Superintendent Dr Ashok Kumar asked both the groups to stop fighting and register their protest with the government and not in the hospital.
Another senior doctor from Telangana said, “Some doctors are settling their personal grudges in these fights. They are not willing to wait for the government to decide. Saying things like ‘get out of the hospital’ or ‘go back to your state’ is not done. This is affecting the functioning of the hospital.”
Since the bifurcation, referrals from Vijayawada, Guntur and Visakhapatnam have stopped. Only very severe cases are being sent to Hyderabad.
While doctors claim that patients from all regions are the same, only severe cases from AP are coming here as people are opting for treatment in hospitals in their districts.
Dr Ram Mohan, Andhra Pradesh Government Doctors Association, said, “We are not seeing willingness from patients to go to Hyderabad. The same is even being noticed in Aarogyasri cases where patients are opting for local doctors and their treatments.”
