Protesting docs bring KCR govt to its knees, Eetala assures protection

Health minister Eetala Rajender buckled under pressure after the protesting doctors staged a dharna outside the Gandhi Hospital which was designated as Covid-19 hospital. After more than 20 hours of protest since Tuesday midnight decrying the increasing physical assaults on them, Eetala Rajender met the junior doctors. The Health Minister pacified the junior doctors and assured all protection to the protesting doctors in discharging their duties without fear at the Gandhi Hospital.

More than 300 junior doctors protested against the increasing attacks against the medical staff and also over the state government’s inability to provide them with protective gear essential to combat the coronavirus. Fear has gripped doctors at Gandhi Hospital after a junior doctor was attacked by relatives of a 55-year-old corona patient who died at the hospital on Tuesday night. Following this, the Junior Doctors Association (JUDA) launched a protest on Tuesday midnight outside the Gandhi Hospital demanding that the state government provide protection to them and also adequate protective gear to the medical staff. The attack and shortage of safety gear has sparked rebellion among doctors at the Gandhi Hospital.

They raised slogans, ‘CM ravali, CM ravali, we want justice’. Although the police arrested two persons for the physical assault on the junior doctors, the Junior Doctors Association (JUDA) stopped working. Barring Emergency Services, all the other services came to a standstill. “The state government said there will be zero tolerance in attacks on doctors. The attack on the doctors is on the rise and the government had failed to punish the accused and protect us from such attacks,” said a junior doctor.

The assault on doctors and paramedical staff at Gandhi Hospital comes at a time when they have been working tirelessly to give the patients the best care while making sure they don’t carry the virus back home.

While Telangana Health Minister Etela Rajender claimed that the government has provided good quality PPEs to doctors, protesting JUDA doctors said the Gandhi Hospital does not have such personal protection equipment. “We do not have enough masks and other protective gear yet we are doing our duty. How can the government expect us to do our duties in such a high risk environment, how can the government expect us to work when we are being attacked by the very people whom we are serving? Corona is a serious pandemic. We have been protesting since the last 20 hours. But the government remains unmoved and did not make any attempts to talk to us. If the government expects us to combat the virus, first we need to be protected. Such assaults have created a sense of fear and panic among the medical professionals and could in turn impact the entire healthcare at a time when they are giving more than 100 per cent to help the governments fight the scourge of coronavirus,” said a protesting doctor. Following assurance from Eetala Rajender called off the strike.

This is not the first incident of assault on the medical staff by relatives of patients. On April 1, the brother of a corona positive patient who succumbed had roughed up doctors. Hundreds of people gathered outside the Gandhi Hospital and went on rampage by attacking the doctors and other medical staff.
While the attack on the doctors is a major issue, lack of facilities at Gandhi Hospital seems to be another worrisome aspect. The hospital is teeming with corona positive patients as infection cases are on the surge in Telangana even as doctors are working over-time treating patients. The hospital has already reached its full capacity with 100 patients admitted last Friday and 200 on Saturday. Around 805 new Covid-19 cases were admitted in the hospital in the last 10 days. The pandemic is wreaking havoc by increasing the pressure on an already overstretched healthcare system.

Recently, 33-year-old TV5 crime reporter Manoj who had tested positive for the coronavirus a few days back had succumbed while undergoing treatment at the hospital. Manoj recorded the facilities or the lack of it in Gandhi Hospital while he was undergoing treatment. These visuals went viral and created a flutter in social media over the treatment facilities in the hospital. Manoj’s sensational revelation has exposed the shallowness of medical facilities in Gandhi Hospital. “The hospital has failed to provide oxygen. Doctors and paramedic staff are not properly and adequately attending to corona patients. The facilities even in ICU leaves much to be desired,” these were the last words of Manoj before he had succumbed to Covid-19.

Telangana Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan, who recently visited NIIMS to console corona affected doctors, expressed anguish over the spurt in the Covid-19 cases, especially among the medical fraternity. As corona cases were increasing exponentially, she wondered if the current strategy to contain the virus was enough and advised the government to evolve newer strategies to combat Covid-19.

In fact, several instances have been reported across Hyderabad and Secunderbad where medical workers have been infected with the virus. More than 50 PG doctors were tested positive for COVID-19, at least 40 of them are from Osmania Medical College. Doctors from Gandhi Medical College (GMC) also tested positive. At least 15 doctors and medical staff were tested positive in the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences. Several lab staffers, nurses and paramedics have also tested positive.