Delhi: At Centre-run hospitals, desperate patients run into strike by doctors

The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) has written to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, complaining that since no admissions have taken place this academic session, healthcare institutions are short of adequate workforce.

General secretary of Safdarjung Hospital’s RDA, Dr Anuj Aggarwal, said emergency services were affected in Safdarjung, Lady Hardinge, RML and some other hospitals. “We had a meeting with the Union health minister, and he gave an assurance that he would look into our demands, but such assurances have been given earlier too. The protest will continue.”

The situation led to patients, including those needing critical care, being asked to wait hours or being turned away.

Ashish Gupta (26) waited in an ambulance parked outside Safdarjung Hospital, hooked to an oxygen concentrator. His brother Nitin Gupta said the family has come from Mathura: “We first went to a private hospital in Jasola, but they asked for a lot of money, so we came here. It has been an hour, but he has not got admission in the emergency ward.”

Karishma Gupta, whose brother was admitted after repeated pleas for help at Safdarjung, said she came from Hathras on Sunday night but was refused admission then. “I tried at other places too, but they didn’t admit him. I again came here and after repeated requests, he had been taken inside. But they have not told me if he would be treated,” she said.

Dr Aggarwal said patients who are very critical are being treated with help from senior doctors and faculty who are not part of the strike, unlike resident doctors who are. The latter form a bulk of the workforce. For instance, at Safdarjung, there are 1,800 resident doctors while the number of senior consultants and faculty is around 300.