Out-patient (OP) duty at the government hospitals and Primary Health Centres (PHC) in Vellore and Tiruvannamalai were partially affected after doctors stopped work in support of their colleagues in West Bengal on Monday.
Wearing black badges doctors led by Senthamarai Kannan, Medical Officer, Vellore Government Pentland Hospital and Prakash Ayyappan, DD-Medical Services (TB), more than 200 doctors from Government Hospitals and 500 doctors from Public Health Centres participated in the protest held in front of Government Hospital in Vellore.
Lack of doctors at the other facilities resulted in out-patients waiting in queues for a long time. At the Vellore Government Pentland Hospital, doctors raised slogans during a demonstration on the premises. Similar protests were held in Tiruvannamalai too, restricting the patients visit to the government hospitals.
The Indian Medical Association on June 16 announced that doctors would go on a nationwide strike in solidarity with their counterparts in West Bengal. Only emergency and casualty services will be offered, the IMA had said.
Several private doctors also took off from their work to lend support to their protesting colleagues.