Doctors stand outside Sassoon Hospital's covid ward. (Express photograph by Arul Horizon) At least 300 resident doctors at BJ Medical College and Sassoon general hospital have withdrawn their work at the non emergency services and will not work at the OPDs and non Covid wards.
Vijay Yadav, President of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors told The Indian Express that they have opposed any further increase in covid beds at SGH without increase in the necessary doctors and other manpower and resources.
“However, as we have not received any favorable response from the administration, we regret to inform you that we are forced to go forward with the withdrawal of all non-emergency services, until such time as we receive a favorable response from you,” the MARD unit at BJMC has written to the Dean at Sassoon general hospital.
Dr Yadav said that their resident doctors would be operational now only in covid and emergency services section. We will offer our services in the labour room and ICU but will not work at OPDs, Non Covid ward and planned surgeries, Dr Yadav said.
“A year into the pandemic, we hoped our government is better equipped to handle the challenges that are being faced. Instead of turning medical colleges and hospitals into dedicated COVID hospitals, they should be used for patients that actually need specialist care.”
“Trainee specialist doctors – RESIDENT DOCTORS – are being forced to work in general practitioner roles which is detrimental to all parties involved; that is the trainee doctors, the patients and the limited health care facilities that we have. Resident doctors are being used as a stopgap solution and have been shouldering the burden of COVID doing every minute thing related to patient care. Work that should be done by doctors under the employ of a special covid force of doctors or by a parallel system of doctors appointed by the government, is being done by students who were actually given admission as academic students,” the letter addressed to the Director of Medical Education and Research has said.
“They have supported resident doctors’ demands of manpower recruitment and proper segregation of covid patients like critical and noncritical patients and proper triage of patient to tertiary care hospital and to covid care centres in pune so that their will be no extra burden on resident doctors and covid, noncovid patient will get appropriate care which is need of hour.”
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