Sealing of scan centre: 800 Erode doctors strike work

ERODE: Outpatients in over 250 hospitals across Erode were affected, as more than 800 doctors from the hospitals took part in a strike called by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to oppose the sealing of Sudha Hospital’s scan centre by the health department in the district on Saturday.

The department had ordered closure of scan centres in four hospitals in Erode, Perundurai, Salem and Hosur, including Sudha Hospital, in a case related to the illegal oocyte sale of a minor, after which, officials sealed the scan centres in Erode and Perundurai on July 15.

However, the management of Sudha Hospital moved the Madras High Court, which quashed the department’s order, and the seal was removed. The State government filed an appeal against the order in the HC last week, which reversed its decision on Friday and reintroduced the seal.

Following this, the hospital’s staff, including doctors, staged a sit-in protest outside the hospital on Friday evening, claiming that their livelihood will be affected, if the scan centre would be sealed. IMA called a strike on this on Saturday and also sent a representation to the District Collector on Saturday opposing the “undemocratic and drastic decision by the Health Department to close down the hospital without the completion of enquiry”.

“Patients will be affected if the entire hospital is closed. We request the district administration to provide a few days to discharge and transfer the patients. Consider our genuine demands and we assure that hospital administration will cooperate in future enquiry,” it said in the statement.