AIIMS Rishikesh medicos go on strike over Kolkata attack

DEHRADUN: The brutal assault on a Kolkata-based doctor on Monday, which triggered massive protests among medicos in the country, hit health services at AIIMS Rishikesh as all the resident doctors participated in the all-India strike of doctors on Friday.
Over 450 resident doctors of AIIMS Rishikesh remained off duty on Friday from 8 am to 8 pm and boycotted the OPD (Out Patient Department) services.However, the emergency services worked as usual.
The doctors also took out a protest march in the campus shouting slogans and holding placards with messages like “Save The Saviours”, “Stop Violence Against Doctors” among others.
The protestors also put bandages on their heads as a mark of protest against the attack on the junior doctor at Nil Ratan Sarkar (NRS) Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. Dr Pahel M Soibam, president of the resident doctors' association of AIIMS Rishikesh, told TOI that the doctors remained on strike for 12 hours and OPD services will continue as usual from Saturday.
“We work in one of the worst conditions. We are not given proper wages, and on top of all this, we are beaten as well. Is it wrong to ask for workplace security?" he asked.
Commenting on the protest, AIIMS Rishikesh PRO Harish Thapliyal said that no major crisis happened in the hospital during the strike. However, some patients in the OPD had to return without being attended.
Meanwhile, Meerut doctors on Friday wore helmets and black badges while tending to patients to protest against the mob attack on the doctor in Kolkata Medical College. City doctors also condemned the incident in Kolkata and demanded proper security for doctors so that they can work properly.
Notably, the protests come in the backdrop of mob thrashing of Paribaha Mukherjee, a doctor at Kolkata's NRS Medical College. Reportedly, he was attacked on Monday by a mob of around 200 people after a 75-year-old patient died of cardiac arrest.