Bengaluru: City doctors sported black armbands on Thursday to express solidarity with the strike by junior doctors in Maharashtra, which has entered the fourth day. They are protesting against the recent attacks on their colleagues by patients’ relatives. Nearly 2,000 of them got expulsion notice on Wednesday. Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors (KARD), Bengaluru had urged in-house surgeons, resident doctors and junior doctors to wear armbands.
"Security of doctors has always been an issue not just in Maharashtra, but everywhere in the country and we have also raised this concern with the state government many times. We have also organised dharnas and the government had assured us that steps would be taken to beef up security, by allowing only two attendees to meet the patients, but nothing concrete has ever come out of it," says Dr Sudheendra, Chief Adviser, KARD.
Meanwhile, IMA Karnataka has joined the issue and called for a statewide black badge protest on Saturday. "Patients do not realize the lack of resources and other logistic issue we are facing. Not many doctors are present at hospitals during the night and there is so much of work load. Sadly, for minutest miscommunication or problem, it is the resident doctors who have to face the fury of mob, and not the management or the Government," Dr Sudheendra added.
Dr Anand Galagali, President, Karnataka Arthroscopy Society, said, "Doctors do not want the patient under their care to die. The patients and their near and dear ones should understand that medical science is not a perfect science and that the doctors on duty are doing their best. They put the current knowledge and skills within the infrastructure and facilities available to heal and treat. They cannot be held responsible for a death due to serious polytrauma caused by reckless driving or the pathetic traffic discipline on our roads.”
They can also not be held responsible for unavailability of beds or ventilators or emergency medicines in the public hospitals as the onus of providing those lies with the Government, Dr Galagali added.
