Jodhpur, Sep 23 Resident doctors at All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Jodhpur on Wednesday began an indefinite strike demanding resignation of the institute’s executive director and accountability over the alleged suicide of a resident doctor on the campus a day earlier.
The protesting doctors also took out a candle march on Wednesday evening and paid tribute to Dr Raj Naresh Yadav, a first-year resident of the anaesthesia department, who was found unconscious in the bathroom of a doctors’ resting area during a break from his duty at the operation theatre (OT) on Tuesday afternoon. He was later declared dead.
The resident doctors, following a meeting with students and colleagues, decided to suspend elective OT procedures and routine out-patient department (OPD) services from Thursday and continue the strike until the administration takes satisfactory and time-bound action on their demands.
Emergency OPD and emergency OT services, however, will continue to function as essential services and will remain unaffected by the strike, they said.
The resident doctors’ association has called for immediate measures to address what it described as concerns relating to working conditions, duty hours, workload, resident welfare mechanisms and institutional safeguards for residents and students.
Among key demands, the association has sought a public apology and acknowledgement from the AIIMS administration, along with Rs 5-crore financial compensation for the deceased doctor’s family.
It has also demanded that all pending dues, benefits, insurance claims and other legitimate entitlements of the deceased be extended to the family, besides providing all possible institutional support.
The residents have further demanded official recognition of the resident doctors’ association and the associated students’ union to establish a regular and formal channel of communication between students, residents and administration.
The protesting doctors said their demands are not limited to the circumstances surrounding the death of one resident doctor but are aimed at bringing about institutional reforms to ensure safety, dignity, health and welfare of residents and students.
The indefinite strike comes amid growing concern among the AIIMS Jodhpur resident doctors over the circumstances leading to the death of the young doctor and the working environment faced by residents.
(PTI News)
