Ahmedabad: As many as 30,000 private doctors will go on strike from 8 am on Friday to 8 am on Saturday to protest against the high court’s verdict to relocate ICUs of private hospitals from upper storeys to the ground, the Gujarat branch of the Indian Medical Association has announced. These doctors will refuse to accept OPD as well as emergency patients during these 24 hours.

As many as 4,000 private hospitals and pathological laboratories all over the state, including 2,000 in Ahmedabad alone, are expected to join the protest strike. The strike is likely to lead to delays in thousands of surgeries.

Doctors will hold demonstrations at the office of the Ahmedabad Medical Association today at 11 am before submitting memorandums to the municipal commissioner, the district collector and the MPs.

Dr Mukesh Maheshwari and Dr Kamlesh Saini, who are associated with the Gujarat branch of the Indian Medical Association, said thousands of operations that were scheduled earlier will be stalled due to this strike. Emergencies will be diverted to nearby government hospitals. Deaths could result if there is a need for the patient to be admitted to ICU.

On one hand, healthcare employees are on strike, and on the other this 24-hour strike call is given by private practitioners, owing to which the patients are expected to be at the receiving end.

However, indoor patients will not have to face difficulty. Their medical treatment will continue as usual. “Relocating ICUs to the ground floor within 7 days is impossible. It is not advisable even from the view of patient’s safety,” said Dr Anil Chauhan, who is chief of the Gandhinagar branch of the Indian Medical Association. Seriously ill patients are admitted to ICUs, who are prone to all sorts of infections, he added. Keeping all these aspects in mind, shifting ICUs to the ground floor is not in the interest of the patients.

DeshGujarat