The nationwide protest called on Tuesday by the IMA against a new bill seeking to replace the MCI with a new body left many patients in the lurch, as doctors stayed off duty across the state. While the doctors at the state-run medical colleges decided to keep away from the Out Patient Department for an hour from 8-9 a.m. and at the state-run hospitals from 9-10 a.m., in many private hospitals the protests would continue till 6 p.m.