BHUBANESWAR: In view of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) call for nationwide withdrawal of non-essential services by doctors from 6 am on Saturday to 6 am on Sunday, medical colleges and hospitals in the state have undertaken preemptive measures to ensure that emergency care is not affected and patients are not subjected to any harassment.
Premier medical institutions AIIMS-Bhubaneswar and SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, have cancelled the leaves of faculty members and staff owing to the strike call by the associations of resident doctors and students in protest against the recent rape and murder of an on-duty resident doctor in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. The strike is expected to impact health services severely as All Odisha Private Medical Establishments Forum (AOPMEF) has also announced to join and stop non-essential healthcare services for 24 hours.
The state government on Friday held discussions with various bodies of medicos and faculty members and urged them to work for extra hours to meet the challenges likely to emerge due to the strike call by the IMA, AOPMEF and junior doctors associations.
Health Minister Mukesh Mahaling said since the junior doctors and house surgeons will go on strike, the Odisha Medical Services Association (OMSA) and Odisha Medical Teachers Association (OMTA) have been requested to cooperate and ensure that no emergency service is affected.
Medical superintendent of SCH MCH Dr Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra has appealed periphery hospitals not to refer any non-critical patient while people have been requested to not come to the hospital if there is no urgency. “Faculty members will manage the OPD and OT services,” he said.
AIIMS has also put measures in place for the proposed strike. Executive director Dr Ashutosh Biswas said OPD registration has been restricted and non-essential surgeries deferred. Patients, not critical, are being asked to come on another date so that the burden on faculty members at elective OPDs will be lessened, he said.
Even as Odisha has not invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to deal with the protesting medical professionals, director of medical education and training Dr Santosh Mishra said all government doctors will join duty and work as usual. “The strike is likely to impact health care. But we are ready to manage it,” he assured.
Meanwhile, patient services were affected in AIIMS, SCB MCH, VIMSAR and PRM medical college at Baripada following the strike by the junior doctors. Several patients had to return home without consultation and surgeries were postponed due to non-cooperation from junior doctors.
At AIIMS, some faculty members also joined the protesting resident doctors and took out a rally demanding implementation of the Central Protection Act (CPA) for healthcare professionals and justice for the victim. Over 6,000 members of the IMA state unit will participate in the 24-hour strike on Saturday.