PANAJI
Doctors and medical students from Goa held a sit-in protest on Friday in the forecourt of the Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim and will join a nation-wide 24-hour strike from outpatient department (OPD) services on Saturday to denounce the rape and murder of the doctor in the government-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata last week.
OPD services both at the GMC and other government facilities besides private hospitals could be disrupted on Saturday as over 1,000 doctors from Goa are expected to stay away as part of the nation-wide strike call given by the Indian Medical Association.
According to IMA (Goa Branch) president Dr Sandesh Chodankar OPD services in private and government medical facilities will be shut down for 24 hours from 6 am on Saturday.
Chodankar said the Goa unit of the association has urged all its members to abide by the directives of the national body to show unity and solidarity with the Kolkata horror victim.
“It is not only about an incident of violence against a doctor, but a brutal attack on a woman on duty at a workplace which, if extrapolated in other sectors, demands a nationwide shutdown across all professions,” Dr Chodankar said.
GMC Dean, Dr Shivanand Bandekar, meanwhile, said that emergency services will continue to operate without any disruption even as he expressed solidarity with the cause of the striking doctors.
"We stand with the sentiments of the doctors striking work," Bandekar said, adding that Heads of Departments at the GMC have been instructed to take measures to ensure emergency services are not affected.
Some services at the primary and community health centres across the State will also be available on Saturday, according to Dr Roopa Naik, who is officiating as Director of Health Services.
The Goa Association of Resident Doctors (GARD) wrote to Dr Bandekar informing of their decision to stay away from elective OPDs, elective OTs, and ward duties.
The IMA which gave the strike call in Delhi however said, emergency services and 'casualties' will be manned but routine OPDs will not function and elective surgeries will not be conducted.
