HYDERABAD: With the T-JUDA continuing their strike for the sixth day in a row to boycott the OP and Elective OT services, major government hospitals in the city are finding it difficult to manage the services.
Back-up staff of senior doctors and faculty are filling in for the Junior doctor's duties, who have been protesting daily in the hospital campuses.
For the first time since the protests began, Gandhi and Osmania Hospital junior doctors carried out a combined protest in the Osmania Medical College on Monday.
JUDA members said that although the services have been boycotted, they were extending support as and when needed in the hospitals.
Osmania General Hospital superintendent Dr Rakesh Sahay told TNIE, "So far we have managed to take care of the OP as we have the senior doctors and faculty taking up the duties. No major inconvenience has been caused to the patients till now".
Gandhi Hospital,the largest tertiary care Hospital in the state has also stepped up to provide OP services to the patients in the light of the boycott.
Dr. C. Rajakumari, superintendent, of Gandhi Hospital told TNIE, " The OP is being managed well. We urge the public not to panic. Services are in place despite the protests as our senior doctors manage the OP medical services."
NIMS on the other hand has changed its OP timings from 8-11 am due to the ongoing protests.
Additional medical superintendent, NIMS speaking to TNIE, said, " With the residents and junior doctors boycotting the services, the OP services have come down by 30-35%. We have our faculty members covering up the OP. Moreover, the footfall has gone down in these last few days as people have become aware of the issue."
JUDA members on the other hand said that the protests will continue indefinitely unless any tangible action is taken by the government to meet their demands.