Government doctors to go on indefinite strike in Tamil Nadu after doctor stabbed

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association (TNGDA) on Wednesday announced an indefinite strike in protest against the brutal attack on a medical oncologist working at the Kalaignar Centenary Multi speciality Hospital (KCMSH) here by the relative of a patient.

The doctors will not attend work from Wednesday afternoon, except for attending to emergency services, and “very critical” surgeries, Dr K Senthil, President TNGDA, said.

Doctors at the KCMSH, where the incident happened on Wednesday morning inside the medical oncologist’s chamber, held a protest immediately after the attack demanding protection from unruly patients and their relatives.

The doctors gheraoed Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, who came to visit the injured doctor, and demanded strict action against the culprit.

Senthil said the government doctors will stop attending to work immediately while the TNGDA has appealed to doctors working in private hospitals also to join them in the strike as a mark of solidarity.

“Why should we work when we don’t have security? We have been raising this issue with the government for the past several years but nothing has been done to beef up security within government hospitals,” Senthil rued.

He said about 5 lakh people visit government hospitals across the state everyday with about 60,000 patients getting treated as in-patients but the government has ignored the security of doctors.

“There are police outposts in government medical college hospitals but the men posted there are generally unfit for policing. They don’t even go on rounds,” the doctor added.

With the strike threatening to cripple operations at hospitals, Health Minister Ma Subramanian will hold talks with government doctors and office bearers of TNGDA in the evening to bring an end to the impasse.