Treatment at Gandhi comes to a near halt

Secunderabad: The strike by the Telangana Junior Doctor's Association (TJUDA) against the National Medical Commission Bill entered its seventh day and elective surgeries and a few emergency services have been put on hold.

In absence of the junior doctors in the OPD, senior residents and assistant professors are taking care of the emergency services. Patients were seen waiting for hours just to get a few minutes of appointment with doctors.

The strike has also resulted in a decrease in footfalls at the hospital as the news of the strike spread. Many patients were returning or visiting private facilities for treatment over the last few days.

Speaking to the Hans India here, a senior doctor shared, "Before the strike a minimum of 120 to 150 patients were attended in the OP every day. Now we get 60 to 70 patients."

He further added, "The Emergency cases are handled by the senior residents and assistant professors as of now. We are treating 20 to 25 patients for elective surgeries which are taking us a lot of time due to shortage of doctors. Those which are not emergency and can be treated later are being seen by the assistant professors and we are trying to attend as many patients as possible in a day."

The patients who are visiting the OPD are alleging the doctors for not attending all patients properly and are asked to visit again after the strike is called off.

Mehboob son of Chotu Miya a 90-year-old patient who came to Gandhi on Monday with leg infection was admitted in the IP but as of now no treatment was initiated, he said, "We came all the way from Sangareddy in an ambulance paying Rs 2,000 after visiting the OP we were shifted to inpatient ward and the nurse only did the dressing of his leg apart from that no medication was started.

This is the fourth day now and nothing has been done when asked, "We got a very arrogant reply from the doctor, saying if we want, we can go to any private facility as there is a crunch of doctors and they can't do anything."

Krishna, a 60-year-old patient from Toopran, Medak came to the OP with stomach pain and leg injury on Thursday morning had to wait for three hours to get his leg injury dressed, he said. "We had to wait for three hours to get my leg dressed by the nurse. For the further procedure, they said to visit next week as there are no doctors as of now," he added.

Tuljabai a 60-year-old patient from Attapur, who had a fractured leg and had visited the facility before had to suffer the backlash of the strikes. Dinesh, her son sharing her agony, said, "We came a few weeks back and a metal rod was operated in her leg. After returning back her leg got infected so we had to come back here. We are waiting here since 10 am and nobody has even bothered to attend her till now. They suggested us to visit a private facility or doctor to get her leg treated."