Doctors in Karnataka protesting has affected the medical services of the state to a huge extent as the CM H D Kumaraswamy issues a statement
H D Kumaraswamy
Hundreds of private hospitals, nursing homes and clinics in Karnataka suspended outpatient services Monday following a call by the Indian Medical Association to hold a day-long strike in solidarity with the doctors sitting on a protest in West Bengal.
The OPD services in the government hospitals too were hampered as junior doctors went on a strike and staged protest holding placards against the repeated attacks on doctors in West Bengal as well as the country.
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The strike had a telling effect on medical services as people struggled to get treatment in private hospitals across the state. Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy appealed to the doctors to attend to duty immediately.
"Attack on Doctors is condemnable; thousands of patients will be affected if doctors are on strike. Already at several hospitals patients have faced a problem.
The state government had issued a circular three days ago prohibiting the strike. Doctors should attend duty immediately," he said in a tweet posted in Kannada.
In another tweet earlier in the day, Kumaraswamy said the assault on anyone was unacceptable and requested the doctors to ensure that their protest was peaceful and did not cause any problems to patients. The IMA did not heed to state Health Minister S S Patil's appeal to keep the strike symbolic and not cause much trouble to people.
"Almost all private hospitals and clinics have shut their OPD services. Emergency and pregnancy cases were taken up," Karnataka IMA president N Dhanpal told PTI. Prominent hospitals in Bengaluru which joined the strike were Apollo Hospitals, St John's Hospital, Narayana Hrudayalaya, and Sagar Hospital, Dhanpal added.
The strike by the junior doctors hit the OPD services in the government hospitals including Victoria Hospital, Bowring Hospital, Kidwai Hospital and National Institute of Mental Health And Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru.
Similar reports have come in from government hospitals in various districts as well. Junior doctors in West Bengal are on strike since June 11 after two of their colleagues were attacked and seriously injured allegedly by relatives of a patient who died at the NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
In a show of solidarity with their counterparts in Bengal, medical practitioners across the country have chosen to keep away from work.
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