As a part of a nationwide protest over the delay in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Postgraduate (NEET-PG ) 2021 counselling, resident doctors boycotted routine services for the second consecutive day on Tuesday in Delhi. The protest was also observed by resident doctors in major cities of Rajasthan such as Jaipur, Kota, Jodhpur, Udaipur and Bikaner, and Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and civil hospitals in Gujarat, among other states and cities.

The worst hit were daily outdoor patient department services, as long - queues of patients kept waiting even after senior doctors looked after arrangements and the patients. Resident doctors and medical associations said the delay in NEET-PG admission in medical colleges have resulted in an acute shortage of manpower and would affect the health care system during this time of concern as the new COVID variant, Omicron is being detected in various states of the country.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has shown concern and requested the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that post-graduate admissions are done as there was an inadequate workforce in healthcare amid detection of cases of Omicron variant.

The AIIMS Resident Doctors′ Association (RDA) supported the strike by wearing black ribbons at work and said that the delay in NEET-PG counselling was hindering around 42,000 doctors to join the health care. The doctors supported the protest, showed concern and said that the pandemic had already caused the loss of two years of post-graduate learning and several hospitals were working with just two-third capacity of their total resident doctors strength which was affecting the quality of patient care. Our country should be well prepared to fight against the new variant of Coronavirus. General Secretary of the Safdarjung Hospital RDA, and Dr Sunil Duchania, president, Lady Hardinge Medical College RDA showed concern and supported the protest stating that resident doctors were patiently waiting for a positive outcome, but no concrete action was being taken by the Union health ministry.

Dr Duchania further said that resident doctors have withdrawn from routine as well as emergency services from December 6 in support of the nationwide protest called by FORDA as withdrawal from OPD and all routine services didnt bring any concrete response from the authorities.

The FORDA members stated that the Union Health Minister said that he would accelerate the matter to the Supreme Court and requested the doctors to call off their protest, but the resident doctors refused. In a letter to the Union Health Minister on December 4, the FORDA said that there was an acute shortage of workforce in healthcare institutions across the country due to no admission in the current academic year and the situation would become disastrous for the healthcare sector as the new variant of COVID-19 was of concern.

The Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum (PMSF), said that delay in PG admissions have resulted in overburdening of resident doctors and the quality of patient treatment has been affected. 

Source: ET Healthworld