Vijayawada: At Siddhartha Medical College (SMC) the relatives of a patient forcibly entered the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), attacked the doctors, and damaged hospital property leading to the Andhra Pradesh Junior Doctors Association (APJUDA) of Siddhartha Medical College (SMC) declaring strike. The junior doctors raised their slogans seeking justice and safety, demanding measures to control attacks on doctors and paramedical staff. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) – Andhra Pradesh also announced their support for their strike.
According to the doctors, a 54-year-old male patients who consumed an unknown amount of glyphosate ammonium poison was brought to Vijayawada Government General Hospital (GGH) on Thursday morning. He was admitted to a private hospital on Wednesday at around 10.30 pm. Though the doctors shifted him to the ICU from casualty and tried to save his life, the patient unfortunately died. Later, a group of the patient’s relatives attacked the duty doctor and other staff, using objectionable foul language. This led to the strike being called by the junior doctors. About 300 postgraduate students and house surgeons staged a protest by boycotting duties except for emergency, casualty and labour duties. It is being alleged by the doctors that the accused has warned the doctors during the strike that they would attack them again when they came out of the hospital premises.
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GGH Superintendent D Venkateswar Rao shared a letter with the students stating that they would pursue the demands and take preventive measures against such attacks. However, the students did not accept his assurance and continued their strike. Directorate of Medical Education (DME) Dr Narasimham urged the leaders of JUDA to call off the strike for the sake of poor patients and discussed resolving their demands.