Outpatients hit hard by doctors’ protest, IMA turns deaf ear to govt

BENGALURU: “My 5-year-old daughter was down with a very high fever since last night, and her temperature didn’t seem to come down at all. I decided to take her to Nimhans, but had to wait for 4-5 hours in the queue for appointment, which I did not get because of the protest by doctors outside the hospital,” said Nalini, who was a victim of doctors’ strike on Monday at all hospitals across the country to show solidarity with protesting doctors in West Bengal.

“I took my daughter for consultation at Med Hospitals, but no one attended to us for hours. We did not know about the protest, and had travelled quite a distance after visiting Vikram Hospital and Shifa Hospital, where the condition was the same,” said Ms Rashmi.

Though government hospitals were directed not to ignore patients, doctors, who wore a black band around their arm, protested affecting the normal functioning of majority of hospitals in the city and state. The doctors had made it clear that they would attend to patients only at the emergency and not others. Inpatients, however, had no difficulty in accessing treatment.

As services were not available at private hospitals, many patients went to government hospitals, which were filled with patients.

Another patient, who was suffering a severe headache and body pain, went with his wife to Bangalore Hospital. But he had to return without getting treated as doctors had boycotted work.

Medical and healthcare services were severely affected following the Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) call for a nationwide strike. A large number of doctors from across the state gathered at Townhall seeking that their demands be met for a safer working environment for doctors and medical personnel. Cries of “we want justice” and “nyaya beku” filled the air as several doctors were seen walking around with bandaged arms and heads, to extend support to the protesting West Bengal doctors.

Some government-run hospitals, like C.V. Raman Nagar Hospital in Indiranagar, K.C. General Hospital at Malleswaram, Victoria and Bowring hospitals registered more footfalls than usual.