Junior docs at Hyderabad hospital stage 'helmet' protest after fan falls on colleague

A complaint has been filed with the Superintendent of the Osmania General Hospital.
Helmet protest by junior doctors in Hyderabad’s Osmania General Hospital
Helmet protest by junior doctors in Hyderabad’s Osmania General Hospital
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Junior doctors at Hyderabad’s Osmania General Hospital (OGH) held a protest and conducted a rally on Tuesday, October 26 against the poor infrastructure at the hospital. The protest came after a ceiling fan fell down on Monday, October 25 while some junior doctors were at work in the dermatology department. A junior doctor escaped with minor injuries. The doctors said that this is not a one-off incident as even in the past there have been incidents where ceiling flakes were seen falling down and water leaking through the roof.

In a symbolic move, the junior doctors donned helmets while working on Tuesday, conveying their fear of untoward incidents that might take place in the hospital premises. Narrating the incident, Dr P Rahul, president of the Telangana Junior Doctors Association (TJUDA) said, “A junior doctor missed a head injury by a fraction of a second. Anything might have happened. The junior doctor escaped with a small head injury. This can't be the norm, as it affects the work ethics and morale of the doctors. We cannot work in fear. The patients are in panic. Today it is this, tomorrow it can be anything.”

In a complaint dated October 26, the TJUDA wrote to the Superintendent of Osmania General Hospital and said, “As you are already aware of the incident which took place in the department of Dermatology at OGH, we would like to inform you that such incidents have now become day-to-day events in the hospital. We are grateful that none of these incidents which occurred so far have caused grievous injuries to the working staff or the patients but it would not be long when such incidents might happen and the authorities would be left with no answer. Kindly look into the issue prima facie as working with life at risk is bound to hamper patient care and delivery of duties.”

Despite giving the representation, the junior doctors association says that they are not hopeful that any change would happen, as previous representations also saw no major response.

“This is not an isolated incident and despite giving multiple representations, there was no response. So, this time we went ahead and conducted a silent protest and rally in the hospital to bring awareness to our issue. However, the Superintendent said that he would support us in this regard and said that the rest depends on the government,” Rahul added.

The old building of the OGH is close to 100 years old and a notified heritage structure. It was designed by Vincent Esch and construction was completed in 1925. The state government had earlier planned to demolish the building after repeated complaints of its dilapidation. The case is presently being heard in the Telangana High Court. 

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