Hospitals stand still as junior doctors protest; patients struggle
Kolkata: From RG Kar to SSKM, NRS to Calcutta Medical College, hospitals in the city present a desolate appearance amidst the ongoing protest by junior doctors demanding workplace safety and justice for the PGT doctor at RG Kar.
The usual hustle and bustle are missing from every hospital with a dip in patient load and services being affected.
Monoranjan Debnath, suffering from throat cancer, visited RG Kar’s radiotherapy department on Wednesday. His wife, Asha, stated that although they received a doctor’s consultation, the much-needed dressing of the wound was not done.
“You see what is happening right now. Who will do the dressing?” a nurse told them. They had avoided coming last week due to the demonstrations. Ruma Mondal, a resident of Sonarpur, faced a similar situation at NRS on Thursday.
She had come to the orthopaedic department for her minor son. The doctor advised a USG but the service was closed. “We were told the service will be available when the situation normalises. As we don’t have the financial strength to do the USG from a private lab, we have decided to wait,” she said.Many are avoiding RG Kar, like Baguiati resident Abhijit Paul, who went to NRS for treatment after a bike accident on Wednesday night.
“We did not know if RG Kar was operational and did not want to take a chance, so we came to NRS directly,” said Paul.Though senior doctors are treating patients, the patient load has significantly decreased. At SSKM, the campus was mostly deserted at 4 pm on Wednesday, which is unheard of. At NRS, a person at the outdoor medicine counter reported that the load dropped to around 10 per cent compared to before the incident.
Several patients reported that their specialised doctors were missing.
Arun Das, a family member of a patient, said: “They said the patient needs to be admitted but we need a gastroenterology doctor first. They are not present today. Tomorrow we will see the doctor after that our patient will get admitted.”
They came from South Durgapur to SSKM on Wednesday.
Another accident patient, Patal Ghosh, has been waiting to get admitted to SSKM for three days. “They are trying to get me admitted,” said Ghosh, a resident of Jharkhand.
However, patients admitted to RG Kar have no complaints about the service. Anurupa Pramanik, a 75-year-old hit-and-run victim was admitted to RG Kar on August 1.
A resident of Durgapur, Pramanik’s leg had to be amputated. Her daughter-in-law voiced no concern over the treatment and complimented the nursing staff. Similarly, Dumdum resident Shambhunath Paul, whose 84-year-old mother has been admitted since July 15 in RG Kar’s chest medicine department, expressed satisfaction with the care.
Banners with slogans like ‘No justice, no duty’ and ‘No security, no duty’ were displayed at every hospital gate. Junior doctors were seen sitting in sit-in demonstrations, demanding justice for their deceased colleague.
