SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Nov 4: The problems of patients at state government-owned Shahid Nirmal Mahto Medical College Hospital (SNMMCH) Dhanbad have aggravated further as the indefinite pen-down strike of the senior resident entered its 3rd day today with no sign of ending on Friday.
The agitating senior residents today again resolved that they would continue the boycott of OPD and indoor services in the hospital till their due five-month honorarium payment is not paid. They went on pen down strike on Wednesday after serving notice to the Hospital Superintendent Dr AK Baranwal and Jharkhand Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Health Arun Kumar Singh.
In the meantime, on Friday morning, Dr AK Baranwal went to Ranchi to attend the monthly meeting of the health department. The officials at the hospital said that he would put the matter of honorarium allotment before the ACS to resolve the crisis of the senior residents’ pen-down strike.
Following the boycott call of the senior residents, the patients at OPD and wards had to struggle for treatment. Superintendent in charge of the day Dr Amrendra Kumar Singh said that senior doctors of the hospital are active and no patients, either in OPD or indoors, are facing any problems.
However, indoor patients complained that they have been left at the mercy of nurses as no doctor comes in the round.
”Before the strike, doctors (senior residents) were available to hear the complication but for the last three days, no one is making rounds,” said a patient who is admitted there for one week.
