Medical services hit in Rajasthan as doctors protest Right to Health Bill

Jaipur: Medical services were affected in parts of Rajasthan on Wednesday after government doctors and faculty members in medical colleges went on a one-day strike in solidarity with private doctors agitating against the Right to Health Bill.

However, several government doctors attended to patients in OPDs at places like Bharatpur, Alwar and Udaipur.

Emergency services and ICUs were exempted from the strike.

A health department official said in the evening that there was no significant impact of the boycott because the OPDs were handled through alternative arrangements.

There was not much impact of the boycott in Sawai Mansingh (SMS) hospitals, the largest state-run hospitals in Rajasthan. Services remained unaffected in Dausa, the hometown of state Health Minister Parsadi Lal Meena.

In Rajasthan, private doctors are demanding withdrawal of the Bill passed in the state assembly last Tuesday. According to the Bill, every resident of the state will have the right to emergency treatment and care “without prepayment” at any “public health institution, health care establishment and designated health care centres”.

Iqbal Khan, joint secretary, health department, had on Tuesday issued an order to medical college principals directing them to ensure that medical services in OPD, IPD, ICU, emergency and maternity wards were not affected and to take disciplinary action against the doctors going on leave without approval.

Meena said the strike was “unfair” and “unjustified” and that the doors of the government were always open for any negotiation.

Taking a tough stand, the state government warned of disciplinary action against the government doctors for going on leave without approval. As a result, some of the doctors returned to work after boycotting work for two hours in Alwar, Bharatpur, Udaipur and Dungarpur.

Amid the protest, Bundi collector Ravindra Goswami, who is also an MBBS doctor, attended to a few patients at the district hospital.

The management of OPD in SMS hospital was handled by additional principal, additional superintendent and other doctors engaged in administrative work.