Excelsior Correspondent
RAJOURI, May 18: The patients, their attendants and general public visiting District Hospital here suffered a lot as the doctors and para- medical staff today went on undeclared strike in protest against the Magisterial inquiry initiated by the District Administration with regard to the `negligent’ death of 18-year-old boy in Rajouri Hospital on May 1.
The doctors including Dr Bashir Khan and Dr Vijay Gupta, besides others stayed away from the OPD and went on strike to lodge their protest against the Inquiry panel which fixed responsibility on two Medicos of the hospital including a brother of in-charge Health Minister, Shabir Khan. Influenced by some senior doctors, the other Medical staff also struck work and went on strike.
A large number patients and attendants kept waiting in the OPD for long. The work in the operation theatres, labs and other diagnostic units of the hospital also remained badly hit while the patients in the wards also suffered for want of much needed medical aid. Many patients were shifted to other hospitals and even to GMC Jammu by their attendants. The emergency unit of the hospital, however, was allowed to function.
About half a dozen doctors and president Medical Employees Association, Farooq Mirza kept sitting in the open in chairs in hospital premises for hours together to lodge their protest. They termed Magisterial inquiry as biased and handled by non-technical people. While the general public of the area has hailed the District Administration for holding impartial probe and exposing work culture in said hospital, some insiders in the hospital were said to be influencing other staff to observe strike, thereby causing inconvenience to the general public. While the public kept suffering throughout the day due to strike in hospital, the District Administration and Directorate of Health Services Jammu remained unconcerned to tackle the issue. The patients coming from other blocks like Manjakote, Thanna Mandi, Darhal, Kotranka, Kalakote etc remained unattended in the District Hospital today.
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