Mumbai, July 13: For hours, 44-year-old Prakash Tarehar lay on the floor of the waiting area outside the casualty ward at King Edward Memorial Hospital, struggling with a severe pain in his left hand.
Discharged from a private hospital for non-payment of bills, the Ghatkopar resident was referred to KEM Hospital but he was not admitted; doctors on strike merely prescribed medicines and asked him to go back.
Next to Tarehar lay 35-year-old Ram Pandey of Wadala, giddy and weak with malaria. Pandey too had been prescribed medicines and asked to go home.
Inside the hospital, and two other civic-run hospitals in the city hit worst by the resident doctors’ strike, the wards wore a deserted look. KEM, Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital at Sion, and Nair Hospital in Mumbai Central had an average bed occupancy of 35 per cent.
“Usually in the monsoon, we have so many patients that we have to lay beds on the floor. Now, patients have been discharged and new patients are not being admitted unless they are very serious,” said a senior doctor at the Sion Hospital.
Planned surgeries have been postponed and patients who are not too serious are being discharged.
“On an average we have carried out only four to six surgeries a day since July 7, as compared to nearly 140 surgeries on a normal day,” said a senior doctor at Nair Hospital. This is true of other hospitals too.
More than 1,900 of the striking doctors (including interns) belong to Mumbai hospitals. At KEM Hospital, wards 12 and 9 (male medical) were shut and patients from these shifted to ward 11.
“Only the serious are attended to; the rest are discharged. All have been accommodated in one ward for effective management,” said a nurse.
At the hospital in Sion, elective wards were shut so that doctors could concentrate on emergencies. “Ophthalmology, ENT and psychiatric wards are normally considered light wards. Due to the strike, routine patients are not being admitted in these three faculties.
Once the outpatient departments of these faculties start, patients will be admitted if serious,” said a senior doctor. Other wards are almost deserted.
Around 270 senior doctors are working on three shifts at the Sion hospital. At Nair and KEM hospitals, 250 senior doctors are working overtime to compensate for the shortage.
“A day after the resident doctors went on strike, we had faxed the municipal commissioner our demands for revised pay according to the Sixth Pay Commission. It’s been six days and we have been working non-stop in place of resident doctors.
How long can we continue? The senior doctors’ association will meet on Monday to decide if we should curtail our services,” said Dr Rajesh Dere, secretary of the association.
Also on Monday, the Maharashtra University of Health Services’ management council will meet to discuss whether to cancel the registration of striking doctors.
–Agencies