Most doctors in private hospitals across the city absented themselves from the outpatient department on Wednesday in solidarity with the protests demanding justice for the postgraduate trainee at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital who was raped and murdered. The doctors also walked in protest rallies.
The doctors said they were shocked and horrified and that the sequence of events were a matter of concern. In the afternoon, many doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers from hospitals off EM Bypass took part in a rally from Hiland Park to Ruby hospital.
“If an assault of this nature is possible on a woman in her workplace during duty hours, it shows there are serious lapses in safety and security. As a father of a daughter this worries me,” said Chandramouli Bhattacharya, an infectious diseases specialist at Peerless Hospital, who did not see patients in the OPD clinic on Wednesday. He also joined in a protest rally. “There is an impression that there is more to this than what has come forward,” he said.
L.N. Tripathy, a neurosurgeon and senior vice chairman of Medica Superspecialty Hospital, too, did not run his OPD clinic. He walked in a rally in the afternoon. “This is an issue of safety and security of doctors, especially younger doctors, in their workplaces. I also stand in solidarity with the doctors and everyone supporting this fight,” he said.
The joint platform of doctors, an umbrella body of multiple doctors’ associations, had issued the call to doctors to stay away from OPD and non-emergency duties across all state-run and private hospitals in the state between 8am and 4pm on Wednesday.
Many patients had arrived at the OPDs, some without knowing about the call and some despite knowing it.
M. Saha, a Sealdah resident, had come to Belle Vue Clinic at 2.30pm. After arriving there, he got to know that his doctor would come only at 4pm. Saha had fixed an appointment last month and was asked to come around 2.30pm. “I am waiting as doctors are saying they will start their OPDs from 4pm. I know there is a call for OPD shut-down today,” he said.
Rajesh Jhunjhunwala of Narendrapur came to Peerless Hospital on Wednesday morning to fix appointment with a doctor for his 26-year-old nephew. But this doctor, a neurologist, did not come to his clinic in support of the shutdown call. The hospital authorities arranged a consultation with another neurologist.
At Medica Superspecialty Hospital as well the three units of Manipal Hospitals, a majority of doctors stayed away from their OPD clinics. Most doctors at Peerless, the three units of Manipal Hospitals in the city and Medica stayed away from the OPDs.
Many doctors also promised to run their clinics on Independence Day, usually a holiday, to compensate for not examining patients on Wednesday.
The hospital official said the number of patients turning up at the OPDs was much less on Wednesday than on a normal day.
At Belle Vue Clinic and the adjoining Priyamvada Birla Aravind Eye Clinic, only 51 patients turned up at the OPDs. The usual footfall is 1,000 patients.
Pradip Tondon, the CEO of Belle Vue, said doctors in the hospital even came down to examine patients who had come to the OPD not knowing that there was a token pen down on Wednesday. “The doctors said they will examine patients in the Emergency, but not in the OPD chambers,” he said.
At Peerless Hospital, 432 patients turned up at the OPD. The usual number is around 1,200 on a normal working day. Sudipta Mitra, the CEO of the hospital, said they were able to treat all the patients who came to the hospital.