OPD services to be hit as AIIMS resident doctors go on indefinite strike

Resident doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Thursday declared an indefinite strike demanding the immediate removal of a faculty member who allegedly slapped a resident doctor. The strike is likely to paralyse many of the hospital functions including routine surgeries, out-patient clinics and academic activities.

In a letter to AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria, the RDA alleged that the senior doctor slapped a senior resident in front of the attendees, nursing staff and colleagues and that the resident doctor was under depression and had gone home.

The RDA said an atmosphere of fear existed in the department headed by the senior doctor, and that nobody protested as the chief threatened to fail the junior doctors.

The Resident Doctors' Association (RDA) has also urged that the doctor in question should not be allowed to take in thesis candidates and conduct any kind of verbal or written examination. They also sought a written apology from the doctor concerned.

The resident doctors also raised the reported misbehaviour of the senior doctor towards the female residents.

"Dear Director sir, we talk about violence against doctors by relatives of patients, but this act has caused great anguish among residents and shattered the sacred student-teacher relationship," read the letter.

"We expect an immediate and strong action from your side so that a message goes out that doctors are not here to be beaten," it said.

OneIndia News (with PTI inputs)