Chandigarh: PGI backs Kolkata, doctors work in OPDs for 4 hours

CHANDIGARH: Resident doctors wore blood-stained bandage on their foreheads and worked in OPDs for four hours only at PGI on Friday as part of the countrywide protest against the attack on a junior doctor in Kolkata.
Registration timings in PGI OPDs will be till 9am on Saturday, in view of further protest by Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), to call off work in OPDs.Faculty members, nurses and technologists would render patient care in all the areas as usual. Elective services would be curtailed, but emergency and intensive care areas, including emergency operation theatres, would not be affected. .
There are 1,200 resident doctors in the institute, including senior and junior residents. They provide the main manpower for running OPDs and emergency services in PGI.
According to PGI records, patients’ footfall was 10,309 on Thursday, but reduced to 4,804 on Friday. The number of elective surgeries performed was 34 out of 99 posted.
“Such incidents of violence are not isolated and have occurred time and time again in various parts of the country. Insensitive statements by politicians and government administration have many times further aggravated the situation by demonizing the medical fraternity and creating mass hysteria,” said Dr Uttam Thakur, president, ARD, PGI.
The PGI Faculty Association urged government of West Bengal to take strong action against the culprits. The association also requested Union minister of health and family welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan to take a note of the grave situation. “We feel safety and security of doctors and other healthcare workers are essential requirement in order to ensure timely patient care and a good learning environment for students. Our association extends full support to the cause and reemphasize the requirement of security in all hospitals so that such incidents can be prevented in future,” said Prof J S Thakur, president, PGI Faculty Association.
The association wore black badges as a mark of protest. The association also urged the government to bring legislation to prevent manhandling of doctors and ensure safety and security of medical and paramedical personnel on duty. “We urge the central and state government and PGI director to make standard operating procedures for ensuring safety and security measures of workforce at PGI and other medical institutions,” said Thakur.
One of the faculty members suggested, “Unless there is a provision for seven years imprisonment, there will be no arrest as it’s a bailable offence. The government should make the laws stricter.”