Protesting doctors at RML Hospital watching the Supreme Court proceedings in New Delhi on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP
The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) on Tuesday welcomed the Supreme Court’s order directing for the formation of a national task force to bolster the safety of healthcare professionals but said their stir will end only after detailed discussions with protesting medicos.
It said all resident doctors’ associations (RDAs) held general body meetings following the court order to decide on the future course of their protest but the discussions remained inconclusive.
“Now, representatives of RDAs will consult resident doctors for their feedback before a follow-up meeting,” the association said in a statement. Till then the “strike is continuing” as the protesting doctors are divided over the future course of action, it added.
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) took suo motu cognisance of the shortcomings in the safety measures for doctors and asked all city hospitals to incorporate “Code Violet” guidelines into their security plans for an immediate and effective response to an incident of violence.
The code refers to an emergency situation where there is an immediate threat of violence within a healthcare facility and stipulates response mechanisms for hospital staff, security personnel and the administration.
Patients suffer
The queues outside All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) continued to grow with the patients’ wait for treatment stretching to several days in the wake of resident doctors’ protest over the brutal rape and murder of a trainee medico at a State-run Kolkata hospital.
Umesh Verma, who came from Bihar with his family members, feared that his 12-year-old niece might lose her life as her surgery has been postponed.
“She has a hole in her heart and had been called on August 19 for a surgery. Now, it has been postponed due to the boycott of operation theatre (OT) services by resident doctors,” he said.
Mr. Verma said they are currently staying at their relative’s place and spending around ₹500 on food and transportation daily, an expenditure impossible to bear for long due to the family’s precarious financial condition.
“We do not have a TV back home due to which the news of the protest did not reach us,” he added.
Mohammad Souid, 48, too, found himself in a similar situation. A cancer patient, Mr. Souid said he had shifted to the city from Bihar for his treatment at AIIMS.
“My surgery was scheduled for August 20 but now they have asked me to come back on August 23,” he said amid uncertainty about his treatment.
Sitting on a footpath outside the hospital, 60-year-old Rekha said her 34-year-old daughter waited for the whole day for an appointment with a doctor, which could not materialise.
She said her daughter had met with an accident some time ago and since then suffering from blurred vision. “We are disheartened by the lack of safety for women at workplace but I am also worried for my daughter, who travelled from Haryana’s Rohtak with her two little children for a consultation, only to be told to come after a week,” she added.
Drop in appointments
The outpatient department (OPD) and OT services at AIIMS remained crippled for the ninth straight day. Till 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday, the OPD appointment count saw a 65% drop over a normal working day as only 4,274 patients could be examined by doctors.
A similar situation was seen at OTs, where only 113 patients were operated upon, a decline of 85% over a normal working day, according to a statement.