Doctors strike in Kerala : Reasons for the strike and its impact on the patients
The doctors strike has been going on since quite a long time in Kerala. The strike started in the beginning of February but recently the number of doctors who have joined the strike have shockingly increased and this is directly affecting the patients of the government hospitals. In this article, you can get all the latest news about the strike and also how it is affecting the patients.
On Tuesday May3rd 2011, about 5000 doctors from government hospitals in Kerala went on a strike which lasted the entire day with the demand that the irregularity in salaries should be revised and corrected. Out of the 5000 doctors, 4000 of them belong to the Kerala State Health Service and 1000 doctors belonged to the Employees State Insurance Sector. The strike has been called for by the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association. The strike has not affected the emergency medical cases in the hospitals. A review has been called for to check the services given to the doctors which includes their accommodation and pension. If in case their demands are not met as per needed, the doctors have threatened to go on an unlimited strike. Ayurvedic, homeopathic and ESI doctors have also lent their hands in the strike. A non-cooperation strike has been going on among the doctors since February and the doctors say that they would go on an indefinite strike from June if their demands have not been met by then.Reason and demands of the doctors strike
The doctors have started this strike insisting that the inconsistencies in the pay wages should be rectified and that they should be given better benefits and accommodation facilities. Since the private sector doctors are getting more salary than public sector doctors, the strike demands that this difference should be removed. But the financial state of the government is not ready to allow this to happen. The government says that since the job market's of today's world is very competitive, the doctors can shift to private hospitals if they feel that they are qualified and competitive enough for the change. Instead of going on strikes, they should just quit from the government hospitals and try to get jobs in the private hospitals. Since this will cause a shortage of doctors in the government hospitals, the serious issue will lead to an automatic increase in the salaries of the public sector doctors. Now it is up to the doctors whether they want to take up this challenge put front by the government. Impact of the doctors strike on the patients
Needless to say, the strike has severely affected the functioning of the hospitals in various districts of Kerala. Though the emergency situations in the hospitals were taken care of, many other patients faced hardships due to the strike. One patient says that he has been waiting for almost four hours at the hospital and was told by the hospital authorities that there is absolutely no use of waiting for the doctors as they will not be attending the out-patients ward. These are patients who come to government hospitals mainly because they cannot afford to get admitted to private hospitals. The Directorate of Health Service has said that alternative measures have been undertaken in all the hospitals so that the patients are not further affected.
The Minister of Health in Kerala, PK Sreemathy says that 'There is no need to go on an indefinite strike, by virtually declaring a war on the patients'. This is very true. A doctor's strike affects the patients mostly and that too in a very hard way especially because the patients who go to government hospitals are usually poor people. If these people are asked to move out from the government hospitals and get their treatment from some other hospital, it is literally impossible because they cannot afford the treatments in private hospitals. It would be unfortunate for the citizens of Kerala if the strike is not called off as soon as possible and the government hospitals start functioning normally.
Job oriented
Hi Lakshmi,
That article was really informative.
Despite the fact that the aim of this Godly profession should not be money making, most of the present doctors keep an eye for money. It is true that every profession seeks a proper wage, good standard and most important, the ethics. The ultimate goal of any doctor should be to help the patients who are the needy- who suffers from pain or troubles and come to them for a relief.It may be a word from the Doctor instead of medicines which can soothe his pain.If a doctor cant understand this and turn his face against them, then what is the so called 'medical ethics' stand for? How can he join a strike and not treat the patient who suffers? Doctors and nurses are seen as the angels of mercy and how can they opt for these kinds of mercyless strikes that affects the common man?