Maharashtra: As doctors’ strike enters 4th day, patients suffer the most

Patients waited outside public hospitals in Maharashtra in the hope of availing treatment as the doctors' strike entered the fourth day on Thursday.

Mumbai, March 23: Poor patients, who can't afford expensive healthcare facilities in private hospitals, are in deep anguish these days, as doctors of public hospitals across Maharashtra are on a strike. The doctors' protest entered the fourth day on Thursday. The striking doctors are demanding better security measures for them in hospitals after some of their colleagues were brutally attacked by relatives of patients in a couple of hospitals in the state in recent times.

Hundreds of patients and their relatives were seen in front of gates of several hospitals across the state, waiting in hope for doctors to attend them. Many of these untreated patients are suffering from life-threatening diseases with no one to take care of them. In such a situation, the state is facing an emergency health crisis.

Several patients were seen waiting outside Sion Hospital in Mumbai on Thursday, reported ANI. "I come from a poor family. Where should I go from here? If my child will die, what I will do," relative of one of the patients outside Sion Hospital told ANI. "The doctors are on leave from Monday. There is no one to treat me. I am suffering from severe pain" said one of the cancer patients outside the hospital.

Media reports say, one more doctor was attacked by a patient's relatives at Sion Hospital, Mumbai, on Wednesday night. The latest attack was the second such case at the hospital in the last four days. The situation is going out of control as over 40,000 junior doctors joined 4,000 colleagues who are already on strike in the state on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Maharashtra Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan warned that the agitating doctors would lose six months' pay if they did not resume their duties by 8 pm. However, doctors are not ready to budge an inch till their demands are met.

OneIndia News