Maharashtra doctors strike: Mumbai's KEM Hospital making emergency arrangements as patients suffer

Mumbai: The Dean of KEM Hospital in Mumbai on Monday said that they are making all emergency arrangements so that patients do not suffer

"We are making all emergency arrangements so that patients do not suffer," Dr Avinash Supe, Dean, KEM Hospital, Mumbai said on resident doctors strike.

Earlier, on Monday morning, huge crowd was seen gathered outside Sion Hospital as resident doctors across Maharashtra went on strike after recent incidents of violence against doctors.

The doctors are on strike due to the recent incidents of violence against doctors.

Noteworthy, resident doctors at the civic-run Sion Hospital in Mumbai had stopped reporting to duty from Sunday evening to protest recent incidents of assault on doctors. 

A doctor was allegedly beaten up on Saturday by the relatives following a patient's death at the Sion Hospital.

This was another attack after the recent Dhule incident, which took place on March 14.

The Maharashtra Police had arrested nine persons accused of beating up a doctor in a hospital at Dhule by a patient's relatives, allegedly due to delay in treatment.

Three FIRs were also lodged in connection with the case.

Earlier on March 13, a video footage of a doctor being brutally assaulted at a government hospital went viral on social media, showing a crowd, which included relatives of patients.

The incident happened on March 12 night. A probe was later ordered into the matter.

In a letter to the Dean of Sion Hospital, the resident doctors said they were unable to report to the duty as they couldn't "concentrate" on the work. They stopped working from 7 pm. 

"The current spate of attacks on resident doctors is worrisome. We are not able to concentrate, hence we have decided not to report to the duty (at Sion Hospital)....There is urgent need to beef up security at government hospitals," an office-bearer of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors said. 

The Bombay High Court has restrained resident doctors in the state from going on a strike till a 'grievance cell' constituted by the government to look into their problems submits its report. 

The doctors, therefore, can not go on strike officially. 

Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan told news agency PTI, "The attacks on resident doctors are unfortunate and assailants should not be spared....We are trying to provide more security to doctors.