On Sunday, following an attack on a junior resident doctor by the attendants of a patient, the resident doctors of SSL Hospital of Banaras Hindu University, which has AIIMS like status, went on strike from Monday morning.

The strike has paralyzed outdoor patient department (OPD) whereas no new patients were admitted in indoor patient department. In spite of lodging of an FIR against 5 unidentified persons and assurance by varsity administration to improve security on hospital campus, the resident doctors arefirm on their demand until the arrest of assaulters.

Owing to their strike thousands of patients and their attendants are found running from pillar to post to get service of any senior consultant. But, the furious resident doctors also forced the senior residents and consultants, who were attending patients in some OPDs in the morning, to close their units too.

Hospital’s medical superintendent Dr SK Mathur said that on an average over 8000 patients are registered in OPDs per day. But due to strike of junior residents on Monday less than 1000 patients could be attendants in OPDs only and no new patients was admitted to IPDs. He said that services in ICU, CCUs, emergency service and monitoring of patients already admitted in IPDs were not affected by the strike. He said that discussions are continuing with resident doctors to convince them to call off their strike in the concern of patients.

Apart from east UP districts, patients from parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, MP and Nepal also comes to BHU for better treatment. Over 300 senior consultants and senior residents over 480 junior residents add in proper functioning of the hospital.

The present crisis occurred when a junior doctor Vikas Kumar Maurya was attacked on Sunday by the attendants of a patients in anargumentover a bed in CCU on October 30.