Fight for safety: Tamil Nadu doctors join chorus for central law

Doctors across the State wore black badges – and some sported helmets – to express solidarity with their counterparts across the country who went on a protest seeking a Central law to ensure protection and safety. Though they took part in the protest called by the Indian Medical Association following the attack on doctors in West Bengal, medical services remained unaffected in government hospitals on Monday.

The outpatient services and emergency services at government hospitals functioned as usual, as many government and private doctors restricted their protest to boycotting their private practice.

A group of doctors gathered in front of JICA block at the Institute of Child Health in Egmore and held a demonstration. “I completed the outpatient consultations since morning and there was no change in the schedule of in-patients at the ICH. However, I will not be taking up cases at my private clinic today,” said Dr R Shankar, paediatric consultant, ICH.

Medical college students and doctors wore black badges throughout the duty period during the day, while some of them wore helmets to stress on the need for safetyfor the doctors.

“PG students, assistant professors and professors did not boycott any services at the hospital. They staged a silent protest to express their solidarity with their counterparts in West Bengal,” said Dr P Vasanthamani, dean of KMC.

Students at Madras Medical College and Hospital formed a human chain. A senior official from the Directorate of Medical Services said that none of the medical services were affected as medical colleges and district headquarter hospitals functioned as usual.

The agitation across the nation broke out following clashes between junior doctors and relatives of a 75-year-old patient who died due to alleged medical negligence in Kolkata. Amid the scuffle, a junior doctor, Paribaha Mukhopadhyay, sustained a serious head injury. He was admitted at the intensive care unit of the Institute of Neurosciences in Kolkata.

More than 100 doctors and staff at the Meenakshi Mission Hospital & Research Centre (MMHRC), the Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI-TN Chapter) and Indian Medical Association also held a demonstration in Madurai.

All non-essential services remained suspended at Meenakshi Hospital, though emergency and casualty services continued to function as usual.

Parvathy Hospital also suspended its OPD, laboratory and elective surgeries on Monday in solidarity with protesting doctors in Kolkata. Sujay Sambamoorthy, CEO of the hospital, said, “How can doctors function if they are fearful of their lives while treating patients? We need a strong nationwide law to check violence against doctors. If need be, armed police personnel should be posted at hospitals to guard against physical assaults and violence by the kin of patients,” said Dr S Gurushankar, president, AHPI (TN Chapter).

Meanwhile, medical services in Puducherry were also affected. The Out-Patients Department at Jipmer remained suspended and the doctors held a demonstration.

Doctors at Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital and the government general hospital also boycotted work for one hour from 8 am.

Similarly, Doctors in the western districts also held demonstrations and rallies to express their solidarity.

More than 500 doctors and students staged a protest at Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) premises.

They shouted slogans demanding the state and central governments to provide better security to doctors and prevent attacks by relatives of patients.

A group of doctors staged a protest in front of the Tirupur railway junction. In Namakkal, the doctors staged a protest by wearing a helmet, while in Krishnagiri the protesting doctors took a rally wearing black badges and in Erode around 950 doctors working in 450 private hospitals stayed off work.