On Monday night, I was invited by Mahuaa TV to join in a debate on the strike of Bihar doctors. 4000 government doctors of Bihar had gone on strike alleging that the government of Bihar had refused to interfere on their demand of providing protection to practicing government doctors.
The strike was in response to the death of a government doctor who was beaten to death while on-duty by some jail inmates over his refusal to sign a false certificate. The Government Doctors’ Association wanted the Bihar government to act and pass the Medical Protection Bill at the earliest.
From the TV reports, after listening to the statement of the Health Minister of Bihar, it appeared that there was a confrontation between the politicians and the medical doctors. The government refused to listen and talk to the doctors and the doctors insisted that they would continue to strike till the government listens to their demand. If both parties remain adamant, the ultimate loser would be the patient.
In a recent Delhi Medical Council order dated 07.12.2010, the council felt, “Under no circumstances doctor should resort to strike as the same puts the patients in severe jeopardy”.
Looking at the genesis of a strike, no strikes are ever done, they are always allowed to be done. If the respective government body listens to the memorandum submitted by the so-called striking doctors in time and solves their demands in time, the strike would never take place. In this case, if the government had reacted in time and ordered an inquiry into the doctor’s death, the reactions of the doctors would not have ended up into this strike.
Implementing Doctors’ Protection Bill is in the interest of the society as most of the states have already implemented it. We only hope that the ego clash between the political will and the government doctors does not end up into a great loss to the patient care and we also hope that this strike remains confined to Bihar and does not get support from doctors in neighboring states or it might end up in an all-India strike.
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