NEW DELHI, July 15: Resident doctors of Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital here went on an indefinite strike on Monday morning but left the emergency services operational after a patient was shot dead while a doctor was treating him.
A 32-year-old man was shot dead by a teenager inside a ward of the GTB Hospital here on Sunday in front of doctors and his relatives. The victim, Riyazuddin, was admitted to the hospital on June 23 and was undergoing treatment for an abdominal infection.
According to doctors of the Delhi government-run hospital, three doctors were present in ward 24 when the assailant pushed aside a doctor and shot Riyazuddin.
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Members of the Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) began the strike at 9 am on Monday but emergency services are operational, RDA president Nitesh Kumar told PTI.
The strike is being led by junior doctors with the support of the Delhi Nursing Federation and other associations. The protesters raised slogans, demanding improvement in the security situation at in hospital.
The medical professionals at the hospital are attending to only emergency patients, while the outpatient department, laboratories and other departments are closed, a member of the RDA said.
Another member said, “We are arranging everything for the association so we can stay on strike until our voices are heard by the administration department and the government.”
He said the RDA will stand resolute over their safety demands.
The protesters claimed that although the administration had agreed to their demands last time, no training was provided to the security personnel, and security arrangements have not been enhanced yet.
In reply to the hospital administration’s letter to the RDA for a meeting, the association said everything will be discussed among all its members and doctors who are on strike in front of the media, not in a room with just two to three members.
The administration opposed this, the RDA claimed.
The indefinite strike by the hospital’s RDA was announced on Sunday after their long-pending demand of giving doctors ample security allegedly went unheeded by the Delhi government.
“Our repeated appeals for enhanced security have been ignored, culminating in this tragic event (patient’s killing). Until the Delhi government ensures a secure environment for everyone within the hospital, we cannot continue our duties,” an RDA spokesperson had said in a statement.
“The strike will continue until fundamental improvements in security are effectively implemented and communicated,” the statement said.
The killing of the patient in the hospital’s ward has been condemned by other doctors’ bodies as well.
Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj had said, “A security review of all hospitals will be carried out and no negligence will be tolerated.”
The Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) has described the incident as a “mafia-like killing.”
“The recent incident of violence at GTB Hospital underscores the urgent need for enhanced security measures for our doctors,” FORDA president Aviral Mathur had said. (PTI)
