Whom to be blamed? Doctors on strike!

5 Dec'07, Hyderabad: 10 Kids died as doctors strike at Niloufer Hospital
Third day of a strike by junior doctors that spread to other cities of Andhra Pradesh. Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy asked hospital authorities to shift ailing children to private hospitals for emergency treatment as the situation worsened.

Some 250 doctors at the hospital have stayed away from work since Sunday in protest against an attack on them by a member of the legislative assembly and his supporters.

Members of several political parties, including the Telegu Desam, staged dharnas in protest against lack of facilities at the hospital and demanded that the suspension of the superintendent.

Supporters of MIM leader Afsar Khan and Mauzham Khan ransacked the hospital and broke smashed the windowpanes.
Hospital superintendent Narasimha Rao said that 10 children had died since Monday but their deaths had nothing to do with the agitation by the doctors. "Since it's a referral hospital, most of the cases that come here are very critical," he said, adding that the critical care services were unaffected.
Hospital sources put the number of deaths at 18 since the strike began on Sunday. The doctors are protesting against an attack by MIM (Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen Party) MLA Afsar Khan and his followers. Senior and junior doctors in other places in the state refused to work varying durations in support of fellow doctors.

The Andhra Pradesh Government Doctors' Association, the largest body of medical professionals in the state, came out in support of the striking doctors on Tuesday and called for a token half-hour strike every day from 9 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. The association said after a meeting that it hoped the government would come out with an acceptable solution to the problem by December 8, failing which the stir would be intensified.

The association demanded that the government must issue an ordinance making attacks on on duty doctors or hospital staff, is a non bailable offense. The striking doctors want attempt to murder charges slapped against Khan and his dismissal from the assembly.

Later, Vijayashanti, a popular Filmstar and president of the "Talli Telengana party" staged a dharna for sometime in front of the hospital demanding Rs 21akh Ex-Gratia to the family of the victims.

How trouble started
ON DECEMBER 2, Junaid, a relative of MIM legislator Afsar Khan, took his daughter to Niloufor Hospital. He allegedly assaulted some doctors and ransacked a room following an argument with doctors after he was asked for a case shoot of the patient. He was taken into police custody following a complaint by the doctors. Later, Khan arrived at the hospital with his supporters.

Doctors alleged he abused and manhandled several of them, including some women doctors. He also went to Nampally police station, where Junaid was being hold, and lodged a counter complaint against the doctors, accusing them of negligence and misconduct. The doctors went on a flash strike and have demanded Khan's arrest.

Not the first time
ON JUNE 15, women activists and TDP members had staged a dharna at the hospital to protest the death of six children due to alleged negligence on the part of the doctors. Then too, the hospital's PG doctors had struck work, seeking proper security and objecting to the conduct of some of the victims' attendants. Later, Khan and his men had come to the hospital and on being denied entry, broken some windowpanes. They had demanded that the doctors responsible for the death of the children be suspended and an inquiry ordered.