Karwar/Sirsi: Doctors of private hospitals in Uttara Kannada district extended support to the nation-wide strike observed by doctors in protest against the assault on a junior doctor by a violent mob in Kolkata recently. Hospitals in Karwar kept the outpatient departments closed to register the protest.

In Karwar, only a few private hospitals were opened and patients who did not need urgent treatment were sent back.

Speaking to press persons about the protest, Dr Nitin Pikale of Dr Pikale Nursing Home said that they participated in the strike responding to the protest call given by the Indian Medical Association (IMA). He said that doctors cannot work efficiently if they are not given protection. So, their prime demand was 
to ensure security to 
doctors and hospitals who save several lives.

The strike resulted in the swelling of the crowd of patients at the district hospital. Patients, especially those who came from rural areas and were unaware of the strike, were worst affected.

“I was not knowing about the strike and I realised it only after I came here. My son is suffering fever and now, I have to search for a hospital which is open,” said Fatima of Kasturba Nagar in Sirsi standing in front of a closed private hospital.

Speaking at a press conference in Sirsi, office-bearers of the local chapter of IMA said that cases of assault on duty-doctors and blackmailing them for money were on the rise in recent days. Hence, the Union government must effectively implement the legal provisions in this connection.

IME Sirsi unit secretary Tanushree Hegde said that many patients and their relatives disturb the doctors in carrying out their duty and even assault them with indecent words. Though the Karnataka government brought in a legislation in 2009, none of the assaulters has been brought to books till now. The issues of providing protection to doctors and hospitals must be taken seriously at least now.