Indian Medical Association to go ahead with all-India strike, hospital OPDs to stay shut

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Sunday announced that it will hold a nationwide protest on Monday, adding that all the non-essential services, including OPDs, will be discontinued from 6 am during the protest. The IMA, however, said that casualty and emergency services will continue to function as usual.

Indian Medical Association (IMA) to hold a 24-hour-long nationwide protest tomorrow; all Non-Essential Services including OPDs will be closed starting from 6 am. IMA will also stage a ‘dharna’ at IMA headquarters in Delhi starting 10 am today.

IMA will also stage a ‘dharna’ in Delhi starting 10 am on Monday to express solidarity with the junior doctors agitating against the assault of their colleague by the relatives of a deceased patient in West Bengal.

Healthcare services at several government and private hospitals in the national capital are likely to take a hit on Monday as scores of doctors have decided to boycott work for a day in support. 

Doctors at the Centre-run Safdarjung Hospital, Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital, RML Hospital as well as Delhi government facilities such as GTB Hospital, Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital will not function. 

In Goa, doctors will have a protest march starting at 10am Monday from Azad Maidan till old GMC complex, a doctor said.

The apex medical body, IMA, has demanded a comprehensive central law in dealing with violence on doctors and healthcare staff.

Security measures and the determinants leading to violence should also be addressed, it said in a statement.

(With inputs from agency)