The normal functioning of hospitals across Kerala, both in the public and private sector, is likely to be hit badly on Friday following a medical strike call given by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), to protest against the “failure of the administration” to arrest those accused of physically assaulting a doctor in Kozhikode a fortnight ago.
Close to 40 professional organisations of doctors and hospital managements’ associations in the State have pledged solidarity with the strike call by the IMA, which has demanded that the government do more to ensure a safe working environment for doctors and that the Hospital Protection Act be amended to give it more teeth. There have been 188 major attacks on hospitals in the State in the past three years, while there have been zero convictions under the said Act.
From 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
All regular hospital services, with the exception of the emergency wing, labour room and transplant surgeries will be disrupted on Friday as doctors will stay away from work from 6 a.m. till 6 p.m.
Over 1,000 doctors will participate in a dharna which will be staged at the IMA headquarters at Anayara
The Kerala Government Medical College Teachers’ Association said in a statement that outpatient clinics and surgeries other than emergency surgeries would not take place in medical colleges on Friday and that the public should take note of it.
