Jipmer resident doctors to continue the strike
Jipmer resident doctors reaffirmed the demand for central law for workplace safety as the strike entered the ninth day on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Jipmer Resident Doctors Association (JRDA) has decided to continue with the strike that was launched in the aftermath of the rape-murder of a PG trainee in Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital, until the core demand for a central legislation for workplace safety of healthcare workers is addressed.
After taking stock of the developments in the apex court and consultations with the All India Residents and Junior Doctors Joint Action Forum (AlJAF), other resident doctors’ bodies and the Jipmer Faculty Association representatives, the JRDA executive body unanimously resolved to continue with the boycott of elective cases. Further decisions will be dictated by how the situation develops, it said.
The JRDA position is that while it appreciated the efforts taken by the Supreme Court in constituting the national task force on safety of healthcare professionals, it is constrained to continue the stir as long as the demand for a Central Protection Act remains unaddressed.
Meanwhile, Out Patient services remained curtailed at JIPMER due to the shortage of hands. Since Monday, the administration had reduced the timings for OP registrations to two hours (8 am to 10 am) for the duration of the indefinite strike. The institution also urged members of the public to avoid visiting its hospital for non-urgent or long-standing disease conditions during the strike period, so that the available doctors could prioritise patients with serious illnesses who require urgent care.
“We are resetting priorities in a situation of an increased workload at OP units due to the absence of striking resident doctors,” said Bikash Kumar Naredi, president, JIPMER Faculty Association (JFA).
Barring the purely elective cases that can afford deferral, all patients are being attended to, especially those with a condition that requires immediate evaluation or arriving from afar, he said. The functioning of operation theatres and ICUs remain unaffected, he said.
A spokesperson for the JRDA said while the strike would continue as of now, the boycott of elective services is of a limited nature with the doctors working for a restricted number of hours. Ward services are also being sustained, the spokesperson said.
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