Doctors stir cripples health services in Bihar (IANS Special)

Patna, Dec 30 : Health services continued to be affected in Bihar as the junior doctors’ strike entered the eighth day on Wednesday.
Around 1,500 junior doctors of the state’s prominent government medical colleges and hospitals went on a strike on December 23 over their demand to increase the monthly stipend.
Doctors of Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Science (IGIMS) have also been protesting for raising their stipends.
Unavailability of doctors at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH), Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (Bhagalpur), Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College (Gaya) and in two other facilities have paralysed the health and medical services in Bihar. The outpatient department (OPD), emergency and surgery departments are likely to be closed due to unavailability of physicians.
According to a PMCH official, 115 surgical operations have been cancelled in the last eight days and more are expected to be scrapped if the stir continues. As a result, patients admitted to the government-run hospitals in the state are vacating wards and many of their relatives were seen running from pillar to post to avail of treatment from other facilities.
Over 80 per cent beds of PMCH’s Tata and Hathua wards have been lying vacant due to the dearth of doctors.