Three patients die at Safdarjung Hospital while doctors' strike was on

New Delhi: Doctors' strike at Safdarjung Hospital reportedly claimed three lives. Not only that, services were also adversely hit 24 hours after resident doctors here proceeded on an indefinite strike on Sunday following attack on a resident doctor at the hospital.

Moreover, patients on Monday alleged that they faced a harrowing time due to the paucity of doctors even as senior faculty members and para-medical staff tried to keep services running at the emergency department. However, at the end of the day, the Resident Doctors called off their indefinite strike because their demands were approved by the hospital administration.

An 18-year-year-old accident victim, Krishan Murari, who was admitted to the hospital's emergency section on Saturday, succumbed to injuries on Monday, with his family alleging that he had not received proper treatment because of the strike. He was referred to Safdarjung from a hospital in Gurgaon.

In another instance, a family alleged that an 8-year-old Neuro patient, Prince, died due to non- availability of doctors and their medical aid at the emergency wards. The patient, who was admitted to emergency ward six days earlier at the fifth floor of emergency ward, died on Monday morning," said Rahul, Prince's uncle.

However, in other instance, a Badayun-based Raju succumbed to death because of fatal injuries incurred when he fell from ceiling. The patient was admitted to hospital on Saturday.

"The paramedic staff informed us that doctors are on strike and you would not get any medical assistance in anywhere better, should rush to AIIMS trauma centre nearby and not waste time here in arguing with anyone," said Govindram another patient's attendant, who was brought in with critical condition due to some diseases on Monday morning.

"My brother was referred to this hospital on Saturday and on Sunday the resident doctors went on strike after which patients were not being attended to properly. "We also requested that our brother be referred to another hospital but nothing was done and he died early morning," the elder brother of the deceased said.

"It's really an inhuman act to assault doctors and subsequently, they should not be allowed to go on strike either, as many innocent patients eventually bear the brunt of their protest," said Priya Singal, who had brought his 10-year-old son for chemotherapy. While resident doctors here are demanding increased security at the hospital, the administration has maintained that they already have 300 security staff and it doesn't seem likely that the strength would be increased any time soon, said an official.

The official further informed that around 3,723 patients registered at OPD in which around 1,825 were new case and 1,898 were the re-vistors at Safdarjung Hospital on Monday. However, in normal day, the registration usually reach to 9,000-10,000 patients a day. "The deaths are unfortunate. Senior doctors are attending the patients at the emergency ward. The incidents of doctors being assaulted at work have become quite frequent and there is a need to beef up security and also deploy marshals at the hospital premises for their safety," the association's Safdarjung Hospital president Dr Prakash Thakur said. On Sunday, around 1,600 doctors went on strike over the alleged manhandling of their colleague.