HYDERABAD: Junior doctors of Gandhi Hospital have decided to go on an indefinite strike from November 1 to coerce the government to start non Covid-19 services as well at the hospital. Stating that the current arrangement of offering only Covid-19 services is leading to academic issues for many junior doctors who are not on Covid-19 duties, they urged the government to make optimum use of the staff by allowing other services.
“Presently, nearly 2,000 healthcare workers including nurses, junior doctors, patient care staff and teaching faculty are taking care of only 400 patients in a 1,500 bed hospital. Starting of non Covid-19 services will help in optimum utilisation of healthcare facilities and the workforce,” stated the strike notice submitted by students to the Gandhi Hospital Superintendent.
In September, when Covid-19 cases had started to decline, a committee in Gandhi Hospital had listed out the way in which non-Covid services could be resumed at the hospital.Meanwhile, junior doctors who are PG students say they have suffered a major setback as academics have come to a halt over the past eight months due to complete closure of non-Covid services. “We have had no clinical learnings of specialisations that we opted for,” said a junior doctor.