Junior doctors of Hyderabad's Gandhi Hospital go on strike, demand resumption of non-COVID services

HYDERABAD: After over a month of negotiations with Gandhi Medical College authorities and Health department officials to resume non-COVID services at the hospital, junior doctors have decided to boycott duties.

The strike began on Wednesday at 2 pm after JUDA representatives unanimously came to the conclusion that the situation wasn’t changing. One of the major contentions of the students is that lakhs of patients would be benefitted if the hospital resumes non-COVID services, and that it would be a blessing for PG students who have lost the last seven months due to the pandemic.

They further noted that with 600 resident doctors, 350 interns, 600 nurses and 600 patient care staff being available, the resources are grossly inadequate as the total number of patients admitted is hardly 300 in the hospital.

"We are hoping for an early and positive response as the academic year has only four months left. If services are not resumed this month, final year PG students will have to attend exams without any training. So the government must notify TIMS as the new nodal centre for COVID management and refer only 200 critical cases to Gandhi, alongside non-COVID services," said Dr Sashidhar Reddy.