OT technicians’ strike hits surgeries at PGI

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 24

The operation theatre technicians’ three-day strike at the PGI crippled the health services severely as 75 per cent of the surgeries were hit on Day 1 here today. As compared to the average 400 surgeries, including almost 120-140 major procedures, only 134 operations were performed. The services were also hit at the intensive care units in the institute where OT technicians are deployed. According to sources, students of BSc-Med Tech (Operation Theatre) were put on duty to manage the surgeries that were performed during the day, raising concerns if they were fully equipped to do so.

The strike left countless patients and their attendants worried and inconvenienced. Scenes of despair and anxiety were witnessed on the PGI campus as the OT technicians continued to sit outside the Director’s office in protest.

“My mother was to undergo an orthopaedic surgery but due to the strike, her surgery was postponed. The doctor has asked us to come in the afternoon to discuss the further course of action,” said a distraught Satinder Singh from Kurali.

Another patient Sudha Rani’s attendant Vishu, who had come from Muzzafarpur, Bihar, for the surgical treatment of a vertigo condition, said they were informed that surgeries were being put off for the time being. “We don’t know when will the surgery be done,” said Vishu, adding that he was sacred if his name or photograph appeared in the newspaper, the doctors might get annoyed and cancel his mother’s operation.

As many as 137 OT technicians are protesting against the alleged manhandling of their colleague by a resident doctor on January 17. The OT Technical Staff Association of the PGI had even given a written complaint in this regard to the Director, following which a four-member committee, comprising two OT technicians and two doctors, was set up to look into the matter. The committee had submitted its report yesterday but the OT technicians were unhappy that their demand for strict action against the accused doctor was not fulfilled.

 “The management has forced us to take the protest route. If it fails to deliver justice in three days, we will go on an indefinite strike,” said Manglesh Sharma, president, OT Technical Staff Association, PGI.

Meanwhile, according to a statement issued by the PGI, routine and emergency surgeries were managed by the Operation Theatre Management Committee of the PGI and 114 routine surgeries and 20 emergency surgeries were performed till 5 pm.

Options given to protesters: PGI

According to the PGI statement, “Initially, an inquiry committee comprising a senior professor from the Department of Anaesthesia, and a senior faculty from the Department of Hospital Administration with two representatives from the OT Technicians Association was constituted. The committee submitted its report on Monday evening. Since there was no clear-cut finding in the report, three options were given to the representative OT technicians by the administration on Tuesday. These were: To hand over the case to the police; to constitute  a new committee for investigation; or to ask for a review from the same committee so that a report could be submitted within two working days. The representatives of OT technicians demanded that the doctor involved in the incident be asked to suspend work in the OTs till the same committee reviewed its report. The administration did not agree with this since there was nothing in the report to indict him.”

GMCH-32 nursing staff hunger strike enters Day 2

The 48-hour hunger strike of the GMCH-32 nursing staff entered Day 2 on Tuesday. Senior staff nurses Poonam and Babita joined the strike started by members of the GMCH Nurses Welfare Association on Monday evening. The protesters are sitting on a dharna in front of the hospital. The association has threatened to go an indefinite strike from February 1 if their demands, which include nursing care allowance and filling of vacant posts, are not met by the hospital administration.