Even as doctors stayed away from work in Bihar today, and several patients reportedly died unattended at Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH), there was no pause in the activities of extortionists who are holding Bihar’s healthcare system to ransom.The family of Dr N K Aggarwal, whose murder triggered off the strike, says they are still getting threatening calls. Aggarwal was shot dead because he reportedly refused to pay up, and since his murder, in the last two days alone, more than 20 doctors in Patna have reportedly received ransom calls, demanding between Rs 10 and 20 lakh.Under constant threat of extortionists and kidnappers, the doctors have said they would not return to work unless the government provides them adequate security. At a lengthy and stormy meeting on Monday, they decided to strengthen the agitation despite a government request to attend duty.‘‘Doctors have become soft targets of criminals. It is impossible to work under such conditions,’’ said V S Singh, president of the Bihar chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA).Representatives of doctors also met Chief Secretary K.A.H Subarmaniam and DGP Narayan Mishra, who promised police security to any doctor needing it. However, this didn’t cool matters.Aggarwal was shot dead on Diwali day in Patna. Another doctor, Nagendra Prasad, who was kidnapped on October 28, remains untraced. As a result of the strike, the health-care system in the state has totally collapsed. Hundreds of patients could be seen waiting outside the PMCH today and several reportedly died unattended. The scenes of despair and helplessness could be seen in hospitals across the state.Even the emergency services have been stalled, with patients already admitted in hospitals having no doctors to attend to them. ‘‘We can’t go even to the private doctors,’’ lamented Keshar Pradhan, who had come all the way from Samastipur to get his mother’s severe head injury treated. Private clinics also did not open on Monday, and doctors said they did not treat even friends and relatives.A suggestion by some doctors on Saturday that an emergency unit be run on the premises of the IMA office in Patna had been shot down.The doctors’ anger is understandable. Aggarwal was apparently targeted by a gang whose leader, Bindu Singh, is currently lodged in Bhagalpur Central Jail. And the doctor’s death hasn’t put an end to the ransom calls. ‘‘Death doesn’t end the matter. Even the killing cost us a lot, so pay up,’’ the family has reportedly been told.A government doctor till few months ago, Aggarwal had been suspended from service. After receiving threats he had sought police protection, and was supposed to get it from November 13 onwards. He was killed the day before. On Friday, the assailants came to Aggarwal’s clinic pretending to be his clients. They even paid the consultation fee. As Aggarwal set out to examine the ‘patient’, he was overpowered and shot dead. Arivind Kumar, an attendant in the clinic who tried to intervene, was also killed.‘‘The state has promised to clamp down on gangsters operating from within jails and to nab the culprits in the killing of Dr Aggarwal soon. But we will not end the strike till they are arrested and the kidnapped doctor released,’’ IMA leaders said this evening.
