Private doctors' strike hits affects care in Karnataka

Outpatient services in private hospitals across Karnataka was affected on Monday as some 50000 private doctors went on a strike to protest against an amendment bill intended to regulate their functioning The strike will continue till their demands are met said a senior Indian Medical Association IMA official Outpatients were not seen or treated in private hospitals across the state today Monday as our members went on strike against the amendment to the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments KPME Act IMAs state chapter Secretary B Veeranna told IANSDoctors Strike PicsShadab KhanThe private hospitals had very few doctors on duty to look after inpatients and for emergency services We have decided to go on a relay hunger strike at Belagavi from Tuesday till the state government withdrew the stringent provisions in the amendment bill asserted Veeranna About 300 private doctors will be on 24hour relay hunger strike in batches near the Souvrna Soudha in the states northern town till four provisions in the bill are withdrawnThe private doctors are staging the hunger strike at Belagavi about 500 km from the state capital Bengaluru where the 10day winter session of the state legislature began on Monday and the entire government machinery including the cabinet officials and lawmakers will stay put till November 24 The 10day session of the Assembly and Council is held in winter every year to address the issues of people living in the states northern regionThe outpatient departments in private hospitals which were shut on Monday across the state will however resume services from Tuesday Though Chief Minister Siddaramaiah held talks with us five representatives of the IMAs state chapter and assured us of looking into our demands we will not budge till punitive provisions were withdrawn noted the SecretaryThe four main demands are inclusion of government doctors under the KPME Act no grievances redressal committees no penalty on erring doctors or their imprisonment for the death of any patient due to medical negligence and ceiling on cost of treatment only for the government health schemes under which eligible patients are treated in private hospitals or clinics The government can fix the cost of treating patients under its health scheme in private hospitals but the same cost cannot be applied for treating private or other patients noted VeerannaAccording to IMAs Karnataka Chapter President HN Ravindra nearly 76 per cent of patients under the government health schemes are refereed to private hospitals or clinics as staterun hospitals lack expertise and facilities to treat them for various diseases The Chief Minister told us the amendment bill would be tabled in the assembly on Wednesday and discussed by the lawmakers along with the report of the joint select committee set up to study the provisions We hope the government will meet our demands as even the opposition BJP and JDS have supported us stated VeerannaAbout 20000 private doctors Ayush practitioners nurses paramedics and medical students from across the state participated in the sitin demo near the secretariat We also took a protest rally and staged a sitin demo to draw the attention of the government and the MLAs against the amendment bill which has antidoctor and antipatient provisions that will endanger private healthcare Veeranna said About 45000 private hospitals including 5000 in Bengaluru were also shut on November 3 as doctors went on a flash strike demanding changes in the amendment bill