Yog Raj Sharma
The North News
Shimla, December 26
Resident doctors at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) in Shimla went on a day-long mass leave on Friday, protesting the termination of a doctor accused in a scuffle with a patient, disrupting hospital services and leaving hundreds of patients without care. The state government recently terminated Dr Raghav following an alleged assault on a patient at the hospital, a move that has drawn strong opposition from the Resident Doctors Association (RDA). The association is demanding that the termination be withdrawn and that stronger security measures be put in place for doctors.
A delegation of the RDA met Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu at his official residence, Oak Over, earlier in the day. The doctors raised concerns over alleged vandalism inside the hospital on the day of the incident and said those who intimidated medical staff should face action. The RDA president Sohail Sharma said the chief minister had listened to their demands seriously and assured them that the matter would be reviewed afresh. He added that a general house meeting would be held in the evening to decide the association’s next course of action.
The mass leave, however, had an immediate impact on patients. Hospital officials said around 450 resident doctors were , while nearly half of the remaining doctors had already been on leave since December 22. As a result, outpatient departments were largely non-functional, forcing patients to wait or return without treatment.
Several patients said they were bearing the brunt of the dispute. “Because of the fight between doctors and the administration, patients like us are suffering,” one patient said.
The state government has yet to announce whether it will reconsider the termination, even as pressure mounts to restore normal services at the hospital.
