Medicos protest continues in Gandhi Hospital

The impasse over calling off the protest by medicos at Gandhi Hospital continued on Tuesday despite a marathon meeting with Health Minister E Rajender.

The medicos are protesting since Tuesday evening after a junior doctor was attacked by the kin of patient who succumbed to Covid-19.

During the detailed meeting, Rajender assured the medicos on having their greivances addressed and in a statement issued to the media later, thanked them for calling off the protest. However, Telangana Junior Doctors Association (TJUDA) – Gandhi Hospital, in a statement said it was continuing the strike as their demands were not met.

“We will continue the strike until there is a positive decision on decentralisation (of treatment of Covid-19 cases),” the association said.

Apart from decentralisation of Covid cases to take pressure off Gandhi Hospital, the other demands of medicos include deployment of paramilitary forces at teaching hospitals, immediate recruitment of manpower and availability of quality PPE kits and N95 masks.



While interacting with medicos at Gandhi Medical College, the Health Minister assured that the State government would leave no stone unturned to meet their demands.

“You should not be on the roads protesting and raising slogans. You should be in the ICUs taking care of Covid-19 patients. We will fulfil all the demands raised by you,” he told them.

On the issue of decentralising Covid-19 cases from Gandhi Hospital, Rajender told the medicos that he would take up the issue with Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao for approval.

Earlier in the day, members of TJUDA Gandhi Hospital protested on the hospital campus and boycotted their elective duties. Tension prevailed for a while when medicos held a dharna on the main road opposite Gandhi Hospital, disrupting the traffic coming from Chilkalguda. The North Zone Police deployed additional force and barricades near the hospital and outside on Tuesday midnight. Senior officials from Gopalpuram police too were monitoring the situation.