Osmania Hospital faces disruption as medical students and residents strike

Outpatient services and elective surgeries at Hyderabad’s Osmania General Hospital faced disruptions on Monday as medical students and resident doctors protested long-pending infrastructure deficiencies. The OMC JUDA cited concerns over patient care, clinical facilities, medical education and delayed Aarogyasri payments

Hyderabad: Outpatient services and elective surgeries at Osmania General Hospital (OGH) faced disruptions on Monday after undergraduate students, interns, postgraduate residents and senior residents boycotted their regular duties and classes as part of an indefinite strike called by the Osmania Medical College Junior Doctors Association (OMC JUDA).

From Monday morning, MBBS students, interns and resident doctors began gathering on the OGH campus, raising slogans over what they described as neglected medical infrastructure at the hospital and other medical colleges in Telangana.

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Emergency services at OGH, however, remained unaffected, with medical personnel continuing to attend to patients in the casualty department.

The protesters said they were agitating over long-pending infrastructure deficiencies at OGH and Osmania Medical College (OMC), which they said were severely affecting patient care and the quality of medical education.

“There are several infrastructural shortfalls in medical colleges in Telangana. There is a need for immediate, time-bound action to address such challenges,” said OMC JUDA president Dr Narahari Chandrakanth Reddy.

OMC JUDA representatives said the efforts of healthcare workers at every level in government hospitals were being undermined by the lack of basic departmental facilities, essential clinical equipment and adequate learning opportunities.

“There are chronic delays in the payment of Aarogyasri medical bills to all state-run teaching hospitals in Telangana. The shortage of funds is preventing hospital managements from carrying out regular maintenance of medical infrastructure. The condition of the infrastructure has deteriorated over the past few years,” OMC JUDA members said.

The association warned that if state health officials failed to address their grievances promptly, the agitation could escalate, with individual JUDA units launching indefinite strikes at their respective teaching hospitals.