Patna, July 13: The two-day strike by junior doctors of the Patna Medical College and Hospital was called off today with the hospital administration agreeing to the medicos' demand for adequate security at the hospital campus even as three patients reportedly died during the stir. Vice-president of PMCH Junior Doctors' Association, Dr. Gauhar Ali, said that since majority of demands concerning security were conceeded by the hospital authorities today, the association decided to call off its stir in the interest of the patients.
The junior doctors had gone on strike on late Friday night when one of their colleagues Dr Pradeep Kumar was assaulted by a fourth grade employee of the hospital and his associates. Earlier in the day, PMCH superintendent Dr A P Singh said the hospital management had agreed to the demands of junior doctors asking for deployment of three sections of police on the PMCH campus.
He said the hospital management was also seriously considering to set up a town police outpost on the hospital campus. A campaign to flush out anti-soicals from the campus with the help of the police would also be launched, the superintendent said. The strike had paralysed the the functioning of almost all the departments, including the emergency and pediatrics ward, with hospital sources claiming that at least three persons had died during the strike period.
Singh conceded that three patients had died at the hospital. Bureau Report