The confrontation between junior doctors and the state government continued on Wednesday with junior doctors boycotting duties, including duties in emergency wards. Many deaths were repo-rted from the government hospitals including OGH and Niloufer Hospital though the authorities claim that those were routine deaths. At OGH, 10 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, which is a usual number on normal days, said resident medical officer Dr Zafar Hashmi. Out-patients were fewer because many patients didn’t turn up once they knew about the strike.
At Niloufer Hospital, ar-ound 20 deaths have taken place in the last two days. The duty RMO denied that these were due to the junior doctors’ strike. “We have service PGs to help. Though the workload is more, we are managing. Daily deaths range between 13 and 20 depending on patient inflow. The number is more or less the same as most patients are brought in terminal stage,” he said. Meanwhile, though talks were held at the Secretariat on Tuesday night, doctors remained dissatisfied with the government’s propositions and walked out from the meeting.
Dr G. Aditya from Osmania Medical College and General Hospital, said, “Though the government had earlier assured us that we need not perform rural service for two or three years and that a year would suffice after MBBS or PG, it has now taken a U-turn. The government falsely claims that we have asked for air-conditioned rooms and Rs 1 lakh in pay a month, which is ridiculous. All we have asked for is better infrastructure and clarity on guidelines.”