OP services hit as govt. doctors stage protest in Kozhikode

Kozhikode Outpatient (OP) services at government hospitals in Kozhikode district were disrupted on Thursday as doctors under the aegis of the Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA) boycotted the duty in protest against the grievous attack on P.T. Vipin, a medical officer attached to the Government Taluk Hospital, Thamarassery, the previous day.

Some of the patients who reached major government hospitals such as the Government General Hospital, Kozhikode, unaware of the strike, had to return disappointed. The doctors, however, attended emergency care, surgeries, and other scheduled duties. Services at the Thamarassery taluk hospital, meanwhile, has been suspended since October 8. KGMOA functionaries said that they would not resume the duty until security measures such as presence of police personnel were ensured there and a triage system was put in place to sort out patients before admission. The attacker, K.V. Sunoop, the father of Anaya, who died of amoebic meningoencephalitis recently, has since been remanded in judicial custody.

Charge against govt.

Opening a dharna organised at the S.K. Square in Mananchira, KGMOA former State president T.N. Suresh alleged that the State government had been ignoring the demands to strengthen security steps on the premises of hospitals even two years after the murder of Vandana Das, a house surgeon at the Government Taluk Hospital, Kottarakara. The government had promised to set up police outposts in all major government hospitals, including medical college hospitals, and police aid posts in other places.

“It was proposed to create at least 244 posts of police personnel to be deployed in these police outposts. At least two police personnel were proposed to be posted at the police aid posts as well. However, nothing has moved forward since then,” Dr. Suresh alleged.

He came down on social media users who justified the attack on Dr. Vipin. Dr. Suresh demanded that the government address the imbalance in the doctor-to-patient ratio as pointed out in a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

The KGMOA functionaries said that the demands to declare hospitals as special security zones and the deployment of State Industrial Security Force personnel to provide security in major hospitals were yet to be fulfilled. A triage system was yet to be put in place and the presence of two doctors per shift in all emergency departments had not been ensured.

Functionaries of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the Kerala Government Nurses Association extended their support to the protest.

Meanwhile, members of the Kerala Government Medical College Teachers’ Association took out a protest march on the premises of the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, to express solidarity with the KGMOA. Members of the students’ union, Kerala Medical Post Graduates Association, house surgeons association, and medical students were also part of it. Opening the meeting, T. Rosnara Begum, KGMCTA State president, claimed that the attack on doctors was akin to damaging the foundation of the health system. The functionaries of the IMA also staged a separate protest. Similar protests were also staged elsewhere in the State.