Protesting Hyd junior docs call off strike after meeting with Health Minister

Junior doctors from the city’s Gandhi and Niloufer hospitals took to boycotting services after a pediatrician was assaulted by relatives of a patient on Tuesday.
Protesting Hyd junior docs call off strike after meeting with Health Minister
Protesting Hyd junior docs call off strike after meeting with Health Minister

Junior doctors from the state-run Gandhi and Niloufer Hospitals in Hyderabad met with the Telangana state Health Minister Etela Rajender on Thursday evening, appealing to him to improve security measures around the institutions for the safety of doctors. The meeting came after over 800 junior doctors from the two hospitals boycotted elective and emergency services after one junior doctor was attacked by the kin of a patient.

The minister as well as the Director of Medical Education (DME) Dr Ramesh Reddy reassured the doctors that their complaints and demands would be taken seriously and met with appropriate action. In the meantime, the doctors agreed to call off their strike and continue working at the hospitals from Friday.

Dr PS Vijayender, Dr Naresh, Dr Srikanth, Dr Mahesh, Dr Vishnu and Dr Srinivas were all part of the group of junior doctors which met with the Health Minister on Thursday evening, appealing to him, to take notice of the issue. The minister said that he took into account the growing problem of doctors being attacked by family members of patients and said that the demands of the doctors would be met.

The doctors have asked for active security personnel to be deployed as well increased security force. They’ve asked that the security arrangements be monitored routinely by the Resident Medical Officers (RMO) and that postgraduates mark the security person based on their performance. Other demands include CCTV cameras and buzzer alarms to be installed around the hospital premises.  

A deadline of March 11 has been set by the minister, to address the demands made by the doctors. The DME will be visiting the premises of Niloufer Hospital on Friday morning to assess the situation firsthand.

On Tuesday night, Dr Karthik, a paediatrician, who was working at the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), was assaulted by the relative of a patient who had died. The family of the patient also damaged furniture in the PICU. Dr Karthik sustained several injuries and bruises and was admitted and being treated.

Members from the Telangana Junior Doctors Association (TJUDA) were informed of the issue and jumped into action to support the doctor. TJUDA sources earlier told TNM that Dr Karthik had been attacked in front of several security personnel who did nothing.

Following this, over 800 junior doctors from Gandhi Hospital and Niloufer Hospital took to boycotting elective and emergency services at the hospital, until their demands for safety and security were met. TJUDA had also issued strict notifications that unless their demands were met to provide safety to the doctors and staff, junior doctors would continue their boycott.

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