Doctors’ dawn-to-dusk strike total in Kerala, functioning of hospitals disrupted

The deserted OP wing of the Government General Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday following a dawn-to-dusk strike called by the IMA against the increasing incidents of attacks on doctors.
| Photo Credit: S. MAHINSHA

The dawn-to-dusk strike by doctors across the State in both public and private health sector on Friday, in response to a call by the Indian Medical Association, was total.

The normal functioning of hospitals was totally disrupted as doctors stayed away from OP clinics and wards. Elective surgeries were suspended. Only the emergency wing, labour rooms, and transplant surgeries were exempted from the strike.

Though the strike was announced by doctors a week ago and posters were put up in hospitals alerting patients about the strike, most patients who reached hospitals on Friday had no prior information that OP clinics would not be functioning.

Many patients clueless

In some instances, patients had come to hospitals for review as they had been given appointments on Friday. Patients who required immediate attention were taken care of by doctors in the emergency wing.

The strike call was given by the IMA in protest against the frequent incidents of violence and physical assault on doctors while on duty in hospitals and the authorities’ ‘inability’ to take stringent measures to prevent this violence, despite the enactment of Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2012.

Doctors participate in a protest meeting organised at the IMA headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. Doctors in the State boycotted their OPs from dawn to dusk in protest against the increasing incidents of attacks on them.
| Photo Credit:
S. MAHINSHA

The latest provocation was the serious physical assault on a cardiologist at a private hospital in Kozhikode by the relatives of a patient, alleging medical negligence, a fortnight ago. Those accused are yet to be arrested.

Patients queue up at the casualty wing of the General Hospital following a dawn-to-dusk strike called by the IMA against the increasing incidents of attacks on doctors in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.
| Photo Credit:
S. MAHINSHA

Over 40 associations of doctors and hospital managements responded to the strike call by the IMA.

In all districts

Doctors took out protest marches in all districts. They said that lack of safety at workplaces was a serious issue and that doctors would not be able to work in an atmosphere where they felt threatened and vulnerable. Doctors at the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Science and Technology joined the protest by staging a dharna in front of the institute. All doctors and residents at the Regional Cancer Centre also joined the protest.

Despite reporting close to 200 major incidents of violence and physical assault against doctors and hospitals in Kerala in the past three years, there has not been a single conviction till date, the IMA said.

Doctors are also concerned that the many directives issued by the High Court, which has viewed the violence against hospitals with concern, were not heeded by the State government.

Doctors have welcomed the government’s decision to amend the 2012 Act so that violence against hospitals and doctors are dealt with more stringently. They demanded that all the accused in the Kozhikode incident be arrested immediately and that doctors be provided a safe environment in hospitals for working.