Hyderabad,Nov 9: Government medical services in Andhra Pradesh came to a standstill with junior doctors going on an ‘indefinite’ strike on Monday to press for increased stipend.The young doctors comprising postgraduate students, house staff and interns demanded revising their stipend structure and bring it on par with their counterparts in other states.The junior doctors had to take recourse to this means when their repeated plea for a stipend hike went unheeded by the health department authorities.Patients had a harrowing time as junior doctors boycotted emergency services. Patients seeking immediate medical assistance had to approach private healthcare centres.Chaos prevailed at the Osmania General Hospital and the Gandhi Hospital,the two biggest government-run hospitals in Hyderabad, and the Niluofer Hospital, the largest hospital for children in the state,as the medicos stayed away to press their demands.
Hospitals in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam,Vijayawada,Guntur,Warangal,Kurnool and Tirupati failed to take steps to mitigate the hardships faced by the patients.The Andhra Pradesh Medical Students Association and the Andhra Pradesh Junior Doctors Association said the doctors this time were determined to get the increment and will continue with their strike until they succeed.The spokesperson of Junior Doctors Association said, “We have started the strike from today and refrained from performing our duties.We are also deciding upon the strategy to keep our protest at the same level at which protests are being carried out in other cities.”The state government had promised to increase the stipend for junior doctors,but no increase has been made so far, they charged. The government has been dragging this issue for 10 years,they alleged.They threatened to intensify their protest in a phased manner throughout the state. Except emergency services,all other services in hospitals were affected due to the strike.