Junior Doctors Intensify Strike, Boycott Emergency Services

The strike by junior doctors across Andhra Pradesh intensified on Monday, with postgraduate doctors and interns announcing a boycott of emergency services in addition to regular medical services. This severely affected patient care in all government hospitals.

The junior doctors had been staying away from routine medical services, demanding an increase in their stipends. However, from 8am on Monday, they also began boycotting emergency duties.

The move has affected major government hospitals, including the Guntur government medical college, Vijayawada Siddhartha medical college, Kakinada Rangaraya medical college, Kurnool medical college, Tirupati Ruia Hospital and Visakhapatnam’s Andhra medical college, where thousands of patients depend on the services of junior doctors.

At the Kurnool GGH, patients faced difficulties from Monday morning. C Veeranna of Kosigi mandal said he had been waiting for nearly two hours but was yet to get an OP slip.

“I came to the hospital with severe asthma and have been waiting for two hours. I had no one to accompany me. The situation is very difficult,” he said.

At Kadapa RIMS, long queues were seen from the morning as OP and IP services were disrupted. Patients expressed anger over the lack of alternative arrangements despite the inconvenience caused to them. “We have been on strike for the past 10 days, but there has been no response from the government,” said AP junior doctors’ association vice-president Dr D Ranjith.

Though some hospitals made alternative arrangements by deploying tutors and other staff, the services remained severely affected. At Kurnool medical college, all 716 junior doctors have joined the strike, while only 65 doctors have been deployed as an alternative arrangement.

The medical college’s principal Dr K Lakshmi Chittinarrasamma said alternative arrangements had been made to minimise the strike’s impact.

“We have made alternative arrangements and are holding discussions with the director of medical education to persuade the junior doctors to withdraw the strike. The strike will certainly have some impact on hospital services,” she said.

Major hospitals have postponed several minor surgeries, with only emergency procedures being taken up. Junior doctors traditionally handle a large number of polytrauma cases, particularly those arriving at casualty departments during late-night hours. With emergency services now also being boycotted, casualty departments are facing considerable pressure.

Some 2,041 postgraduate medical students are enrolled in clinical, non-clinical and diploma courses in medical colleges across AP. Including all three years of the postgraduate programmes, the number of PG doctors involved is more than 6,000.

With emergency services also affected, patients and hospital authorities are now concerned about the impact of a prolonged agitation on critical and trauma care services across the state. 

PG Doctors in Key Clinical Departments at Government GGHs

Stipend for Junior Doctors in Andhra Pradesh