VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh Junior Doctors Association (APJUDA) of Siddhartha Medical College (SMC) declared that their strike will continue until their demands are resolved. The strike was called at the SMC campus on Friday, alleging that the relatives of a patient forcibly entered the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), attacked them, and damaged hospital property.
The junior doctors raised their slogans seeking justice and safety, demanding measures to control attacks on doctors and paramedical staff. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) – Andhra Pradesh also announced their support for their strike.
According to the doctors, a 54-year-old male patients who consumed an unknown amount of glyphosate ammonium poison was brought to Vijayawada Government General Hospital (GGH) on Thursday morning. He was admitted to a private hospital on Wednesday at around 10.30 pm.
Though the doctors shifted him to the ICU from casualty and tried to save his life, the patient unfortunately died. Later, a group of the patient’s relatives attacked the duty doctor and other staff, using objectionable foul language. The junior doctors of SMC then decided to call for a strike under the auspices of SMC JUDA leader Dr R Harish. About 300 postgraduate students and house surgeons staged a protest by boycotting duties except for emergency, casualty and labour duties.
GGH Superintendent D Venkateswar Rao shared a letter with the students stating that they would pursue the demands and take preventive measures against such attacks. However, the students did not accept his assurance and continued their strike.
Directorate of Medical Education (DME) Dr Narasimham urged the leaders of JUDA to call off the strike for the sake of poor patients and discussed resolving their demands. Meanwhile, IMA State President Dr M Jaya Chandra Naidu and General Secretary Dr P Phanidhar visited the camp on Friday, announced their support, and discussed the issue with DME.
President of APJUDA-SMC wing Dr Dharmakar Pujari declared that they will continue their strike until the Minister of Health, Y Satya Kumar, assures measures to be taken to stop future attacks on doctors.
Dharmakar demanded the arrest of the accused and the registration of a non-bailable case against them.
“The accused has warned the doctors during the strike that they would attack them again when they came out of the hospital premises. We need a permanent solution for such issues. Until then, the strike will continue,” he added.
Will take preventive measures: GGH chief
Vijayawada GGH chief Dr D Venkateswar Rao shared a letter with the students stating that they would pursue the demands and take preventive measures against future attacks. However, the students did not accept his assurance and continued their strike
