Hyderabad: Govt hospitals’ outpatient services disrupted by protests over Kolkata doctor’s rape-murder

Emergency and casualty services continued as usual, but elective surgeries at Gandhi Hospital, Osmania General Hospital (OGH), and Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) were postponed due to the boycott.

Hyderabad: Patient care services at outpatient wings in government hospitals in Hyderabad took a hit in the early hours of Friday, as faculty, medicos, senior residents and nurses joined protests demanding justice to the trainee doctor who was raped and murdered in R G Kar Medical College, Kolkata.

While the emergency/casualty wings continued to operate normally, the elective surgeries at Gandhi Hospital, Osmania General Hospital (OGH) and Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) had to be postponed due to the boycott call.

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Health care services at the OP (outpatient) wings at Gandhi and Osmania Medical College (OMC) were impacted, as senior doctors, who reported to their regular duties by wearing black badges, did their best to make-up for the absence of medicos. Later, the senior doctors at OGH and Gandhi Hospital also took one hour off from their routine medical duties on Friday morning and participated in protests.

More than 200 elective surgeries that were lined-up at Gandhi hospital and OGH on Thursday and Friday were postponed due to the ongoing boycott by Telangana Junior Doctors Association, TTGDA, AIFGDA and TGDA and NIMS Resident Doctors Association.

With the Resident Doctors and Nurses Union at NIMS also joining the protests, the hospital management on Friday morning announced that the OP (outpatient) services and elective surgeries will be curtailed and postponed respectively.

The overall strike will continue for one more day, as health care workers from all cadres in the State, are expected to join the national one-day strike of all health care services (except for emergencies) will be taken-up on Saturday.