Patients at Panchkula hospital suffer as doctors hold 2-hour protest

Panchkula, July 15

Patients at the Civil Hospital in Sector 6 here were left stranded in long queues today as doctors associated with the Haryana Civil Medical Association (HCMA) held a protest demanding hiring of doctors and deputing senior medical doctors (SMOs) only through promotion.

Over 300 patients visit the hospital’s OPD daily. Doctors said the protest was organised at all civil hospitals in the state. In Panchkula, doctors held the protest for two hours (from 9 am to 11 am). Only a few doctors working in the Emergency ward remained on duty.

Doctors said they had presented their demands to their seniors but these had been pending despite assurances.

Dr Mandeep, a medical officer at the Sector 6 hospital, said, “Our demands were accepted by the Health Department over six months ago, but these have not been implemented.” He said there was a huge shortage of specialist doctors at all civil and other government hospitals in the state. “We want the state government to hire more doctors, especially specialists, so as to provide better treatment to patients,” he said. The medical officer added, “Many doctors continue working without promotion for years. The direct hiring of SMOs should be stopped and doctors promoted in time.”

Doctors find it difficult to provide Rs 1 lakh as bond amount for pursuing in-service postgraduate courses. They said, “The bond amount is too high. Many doctors face difficulty in submitting the funds. The amount should be reduced to Rs 50,000.”

They said the rush at hospital OPDs was too high. “One doctor is forced to see over 200 to 250 patients a day whereas as per rules, we are supposed to see nearly 60 patients. Due to this, we are not able to provide quality treatment to patients.”