CCB Ah Neh doctors ON STRIKE while emgency patients DIES

http://www.calcuttanews.net/story/564169

Doctors' strike claims a dozen lives in Bihar

Calcutta News.Net
Wednesday 11th November, 2009 (IANS)

Patna, Nov 11 (IANS) Nearly a dozen patients who were admitted to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) here died because of a strike by junior doctors which entered its second day Wednesday, officials said. The doctors are demanding payment of the increased stipend that was promised to them earlier.

'All the patients died during the first 24 hours of the ongoing strike,' an official said. More than 500 junior doctors went on an indefinite strike late Monday night, demanding payment of the increased stipend they were promised after a round of agitations this August.

The strike has badly hit the emergency services and dozens of surgeries have been postponed. Hospital authorities have sought the help of the health department to cope with the situation and have asked for 100 doctors from various parts of the state.

'Junior doctors were forced to go on strike as the government was not sticking to its promise,' Naqui Imam, a leader of the junior doctors' association, told IANS. 'The Bihar government has failed to pay us the increased stipend it promised.'

'In August after an assurance from the Bihar government of a hike in stipend, we withdrew our five-day-long strike. But we were not paid,' a doctor said.

Hundreds of poor patients, who came for treatment from across the state, have been victims of the ongoing strike. The state government has asked the hospital authorities to hold a meeting with the junior doctors and persuade them to end their strike.

This is the kind of FT Ah Neh doctors who gets employed by Cow Boon Wan over here! Our lives are at risk! The will extort for higher salaries just like COW! Leave us to deaths!

http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-149902.html

Doctors' strike in Bihar enters fourth day

Patna, Nov 13 : Hundreds of patients continued to suffer as the strike by junior doctors in Bihar's premier government-run hospital entered its fourth day here Friday, officials said.

About 500 junior doctors have struck work demanding payment of the increased stipend that was promised to them earlier. Their strike has already claimed three dozen lives, relatives of patients allege.

Emergency services have been hit and dozens of surgeries have been postponed. Hospital authorities have sought the help of the health department to cope with the situation and have asked for 100 doctors from various parts of the state.

The state government has made no serious effort to end the strike. Its priority is to host the three day 70th session of the Indian Road Congress which begins Saturday, a government official said.

"At present the government's focus is branding its image during the session. It has little time to end the doctors' strike that has affected hundreds of patients," the official said.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi or top government officials has not yet made a statement on the strike. "They are more concerned about impressing the nearly 1,500 delegates from different parts of India and abroad," Gopi Sahni, a relative of a patient here, said.

Meanwhile in the last four days, the Patna Medical College and Hospital has witnessed an exodus of patients, mainly those who can afford expensive private clinics. A number of poor patients, who came for treatment from across the state, have been victims of the ongoing strike.

"Hundreds of poor patients were left at god's mercy. They have been praying for divine blessings to end the strike," a hospital official said.

Meanwhile, the striking junior doctors said they were forced to go on strike as the government was not sticking to its promise.

"In August after an assurance from the Bihar government of a hike in stipend, we withdrew our five-day-long strike. But we were not paid," said a doctor.

The state government has asked the hospital authorities to hold a meeting with the junior doctors and persuade them to end the strike.

State Health Minister Nand Kishore Yadav has described the strike as unjustified.

--IANS

http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=19409




View Point: Doctors' strike in Bihar
Category » Editorial Posted On Monday, November 16, 2009

Junior doctors in Patna have started an indefinite "doctors' strike" demanding a higher scale of payment for their service. While the members of the medical profession joining a "strike" to settle their personal demand against the government and in the process, disrupting the entire hospital function putting the lives of the innocent patients in great peril is unthinkable in the developed countries, "strike" by our healers is not new in India. One shudders to imagine how doctors can easily disregard the Hippocratic Oath of serving the humanity first and simply stop working to satisfy their selfish interest putting the healthcare services in total disarray. Leaving aside this ethical question, do doctors have a legal right to go on a "strike" putting the lives of defenseless patients in serious danger? Who should be held responsible for the death of the innocent patients who died as a result of "doctors' strike"? The government as well as the members f the medical community who have participated in this "doctors' strike" must answer these important questions.
The picture of a "doctors' strike" is blatantly repulsive anyway you look at it. Even when only the "junior doctors" go on a strike, patients in need of urgent medical care are denied life-saving treatment because the junior medicos form the backbone of healthcare in the hospitals. The most unfortunate aspect of the present junior "doctors' strike" in Patna is that most of the victims would be the patients who hail from the lower socioeconomic strata of the society since they have choice to attend the pricy private hospitals. One thing is absolutely certain is that the ultimate price of any "doctors' strike" is always paid by the defenseless patients- sometimes literally through their lives as many patients have already died because of the present strike by the junior doctors in Patna. Obviously, doctors do not have a moral right to go on a "strike" at the expense of the vulnerable patients.
Although there can be no argument that a peaceful "strike" by workers in most jobs is an important tool to fight injustice in the democratic societies. But workers who are involved with providing essential public services like healthcare cannot have a right go on a "strike" and undermine the safety for the rest of the society. The Article 21 of the Indian Constitution guarantees protection of rights to life and personal liberty for all people. The Supreme Court of India has corroborated this notion many times in the past that the rights to go on a "strike" by some in a single profession can never supersede the combined rights for life and liberty for countless others in the society.
In a historic judgment in 2003 involving the striking government employees in Tamil Nadu (T.K. Rangarajan vs. State of Tamil Nadu; Civil Appeal No. 5556 of 2003), the Apex Court has ruled against the striking workers and categorically said, "Government employees cannot claim that they can take the society at ransom by going on strike." Obviously, doctors also cannot have a right to go on a "strike" and take the helpless patients at ransom to settle their personal disputes with the government. In fact, doctors in Delhi went on a massive strike to protest against the "quota" resulting in acute disruption in essential hospital services and several patients died waiting for treatment in the Emergency ward in 2006. A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed against the striking doctors and the Medical Council of India (MCI) through a writ petition (People for Better Treatment vs. MCI & Ors; W.P. Civil No. 316/2006) seeking a complete ban on "doctors' strike". The Apex Court has already issued notices to the respondent medicos in this case which might have significant implications on "doctors' strikes" in India.
But even without any repercussions from the courtroom, the "Code of Ethics and Regulations" framed under the MCI Act which is binding on all practicing physicians in India also has strong prohibition against any doctors' strike. The Section 2.1.1 of the MCI "Codes" has categorically stated that doctors cannot refuse treatment to a patient who is in need of emergency medical care. While a doctor may be able to wriggle out of a situation for his refusal to treat someone suffering from an insubstantial medical condition, he cannot deny therapy under any ground to a critically ill patient. Obviously, the death of several patients following the "doctors' strike" in Patna is in clear breach of the MCI Rules. The striking doctors should face disciplinary action from the medical council for violation of the MCI code of ethics. They are also liable for cancellation of their medical licenses for professional misconduct under the MCI Act. In fact, if charges are pressed against the striking medicos for violation of the MCI Act, it would be extremely difficult to defend that a patient was not in need of urgent medical care when he/she actually succumbs without receiving any treatment. Ironically, not many in the medical fraternity are even aware about the intricate MCI rules and regulations and that they must follow the stipulations as framed under the MCI Act. The junior doctors would be well advised to stay away from "doctors' strike" as it can lead them to more serious problems. Unfortunately, unlike in the Western countries, the medical council in India primarily functions to shield their errant medical colleagues without caring for the lives of the ordinary people. This is why doctors in India frequently resort to "doctors' strike" without much fear to settle their score with the government. If previous history provides any indication for the future, it can be safely predicted that the striking doctors in Patna would face no disciplinary action from the medical council no matter how many patients eventually die.
It must also be said that the gripes made by the junior doctors in Bihar demanding a higher salary may also deserve some consideration. It is reported that the junior doctors in Bihar are paid much less than their counterparts in other states. If this is true, they obviously have every reason to be unhappy and to blame the health department. But junior doctors should not resort to a "doctors' strike" and deny therapy to the ailing citizens even to settle their legitimate demands from the government. Whether or not their strike is able to cause any anxiety for the debauched political leaders sitting in the health department, it can certainly devastate many innocent families who cannot afford to take their loved one to the expensive private medical clinics and would have no choice but to see them dying without any treatment. The Hippocratic Oath preaches that any financial reward should only be a subordinate consideration for everybody in the noble profession of medicine. The modern day doctors in India should not become totally oblivious of the oath from the father of modern medicine and they should at least ponder once about the pain of the innocent patient left untreated at the hospital doorstep before taking decision to abandon their hospital duty and join a "doctors' strike". Public trust in our healers has been plummeting in the recent years for more reasons than one. Further erosion of the doctor-patient relationship is likely to occur from frequent "doctors' strikes" in India which only upset the essential hospital services that are already substandard and bring added miseries for the poor patients in India. The trade-union mindset of our medical leaders has no place in modern day medical science. Thank you.
Dr Kunal Saha

http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/091121/5/1vevo.html

印度醫師持續罷工12天　急症病人枉死逾百人 　
中央社 更新日期:"2009/11/21 19:01"

（中央社記者郭傳信新德里21日專電）據官方衛生部官員今天表示，印度北部比哈省兩所醫學院附屬醫院750名醫師，抗議省府未履行加薪承諾，至今已持續罷工12天，而等不到醫治枉死的急症病人也超過100人。

比哈省（Bihar）衛生部一名官員表示，儘管省府人權委員會強烈要求撤銷拒不恢復工作醫師的醫師證書，並建議以蓄意致人死亡的罪名控告醫師，但衛生部至今尚未收到採取行動的命令。官員表示，比哈地區已嚴重缺乏醫師，當局必須慎重考慮。

據由法官組成的比哈省官方人權委員會指控說，罷工的醫師實際是企圖脅迫政府同意他們非法成立私人診所。委員會主席普拉薩（Rajendra Prasad）說，這些醫師本有其他途徑可以表達意見，卻選擇這種罔顧醫德和致人於死的方式。

　　普拉薩說：「這明顯違反人權，當局應果斷將這些醫師繩之以法。」

但在比哈省首府巴特納（Patna）兩家公立醫學院附屬醫院罷工的750名醫師，大多是新進的資淺醫師，無視官方人權委員會的威脅。

比哈資淺醫師協會副主席庫瑪（Dhananjay Kumar）今天向媒體表示，除非政府發布通告承諾履行先前同意的改善薪資條件，否則資淺醫師協會將繼續罷工到底，絕不妥協。

　　他說，醫師在今年8月間第一次集體罷工，比哈省政府曾經同意提高資淺醫師的加給。

　　那次罷工造成38名急症病人因等不到醫療而死亡。

　　地方人士說，由於醫師集體罷工，比哈省首府巴特納最大的這兩家公立醫院，急診室服務已完全停擺，各科手術至今也延誤了將近兩個星期，許多經濟貧困而只能依靠公立醫院減免醫療費就醫的病人受害最大。981121

throw them in jail...and hire new doctors...

botakboon said:

Doctors' strike claims a dozen lives in Bihar

Click to expand...

they aren't fit to be a doctor

singaporeans should count themselves to be the luckiest people on earth...our doctors don't go on strike and they work round the clock...be eternally grateful...singapore doctors the bestest.