Female doctor harassment case: Lady Hardinge Medical College doctors call off strike

New Delhi, Feb 20: Resident doctors and medical students of the Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC) and Smt Sucheta Kriplani Hospital on Thursday, Feb 19 called off their strike, a day after they went on an indefinite strike on Wednesday, Feb 18, protesting against the alleged repeated physical harassment of female doctors.

The doctors were agitating over the alleged manhandling of a woman doctor by the attendant of a patient. The demanded better security on the hospital premises for preventing such incidents.

The attendant of a patient admitted at the hospital allegedly manhandled a woman resident doctor on night duty on Wednesday following which around 1,100 resident doctors and MBBS students launched a protest demanding adequate security on hospital premises.

However, emergency and critical care services at the hospital were not disrupted, officials said.

In a letter dated Feb 18th, 2015 addressed to The Director of LHMC, the agitating doctors had written, "As per negotiations, affirmations and assurances which were given to us during our meeting on Tuesday, Feb 17, with the administration, we found a failure of all those promises made to us when the administration and RDA went for vigilance round across the hospital."

"It was unfortunate to see that all those promises were betrayed and the primary concern of women security is overlooked. We are now being provided with fresh deadlines and the security issues remain unresolved, so all the SRs, JRs and interns have no other option are left but to resume our strike that includes closure of emergency, OPD and In-patient services which will not be called off until all our demands are met and no action will be taken against any resident doctor or intern after the strike is over", the letter further stated.

Delhi Health Minister writes to Centre after LHMC doctors go on strike

Meanwhile, Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain on Thursday, Feb 19, wrote to the Centre asking it to address the protesters' concerns in order to get them to withdraw their stir.

"I wrote to the Centre urging them to take necessary steps to get the strike called off as Lady Hardinge Medical College hospital is a designated hospital for the treatment of swine flu and it falls under the Union Health Ministry. Patients of swine flu were facing problems due to the strike. Children affected by the HIN1 virus influenza, too, were admitted at the hospital," Jain told a news agency.

Following Jain's letter, the Director of LHMC, Dr Atul Murari, held a meeting with the doctors on strike and additional security was deployed on the hospital campus by the evening.

"What took place raises concerns about the safety and security of doctors on the hospital premises. This should be a wake up call for the hospital administration," said LHMC Resident Doctors' Association (RDA) President, Virender Chouhan.

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