850 doctors strike work, cripple services in Mumbai

Amid the ongoing protests by the resident doctors of Sir JJ Hospital, treatment and hospital services have been seriously hit. Patients seeking treatment are forced to return as there is a shortage of staff catering to them. Two patients, Bhaskar Ingade (45) and Shrikrishna Tayade (49), who had travelled from Nandura in Buldhana district to Sir JJ Hospital, had to return without undergoing medical treatment on Monday.

While Ingade had a left leg injury due to a tractor falling on his leg, Tayade visited the hospital to get a knot removed from his body. 

“Now we have been told to come after five days. We did not know that there is a doctors’ strike or else we wouldn’t have travelled so far. We don’t have good facilities in hospitals in our district. As JJ Hospital is a state-run hospital, we could have cut down the cost,” Tayade told DNA. 

These two incidents should not be seen in exclusivity. Many others have also been affected in four hospitals across the city — JJ Hospital, GT Hospital, St George Hospital and Cama Hospital— which are part of the Grant Medical College. 

Ganesh Nilpatrawar, a protesting resident doctor of JJ, said, “We did not want the patients to suffer and hence, started a parallel OPD. We want to work for the patients but we are against the system until the time our demands are fulfilled.”

Very few people were admitted to the four hospitals in the past three days. Some surgeries which were scheduled during the time were also postponed. 

Dr Swapnil Kamble, RMO at St George’s Hospital, said, “We are avoiding admissions and accepting only emergency cases. The OPD was attended by the senior doctors and interns at the hospital. Around 30 resident doctors mass bunked on Monday due to the strike.”