M A I N   N E W S

8 dead as Andhra docs’ stir cripples medicare
Suresh Dharur/TNS

Hyderabad, February 11
The 40-day-long strike by junior doctors in government hospitals across Andhra Pradesh has taken a serious turn with the death of eight patients since last night following a complete breakdown of the emergency services.

With the striking doctors, demanding higher wages and improvement in infrastructure, boycotting even the emergency services, the patients had a harrowing time. Over 3,000 junior doctors across 10 teaching-cum-general hospitals are on strike in support of their charter of demands that include a 40 per cent hike in stipend paid to them and reduction in the mandatory rural service from the existing three years to one year.

According to sources, six patients died at the emergency ward of Gandhi Hospital in the city and one each in Visakhapatnam and Kurnool government hospitals. The officials said the agitation had crippled the emergency medicare in the state, affecting over 52,000 patients and nearly 15,000 operations, including 1,500 major surgeries.

Following failure of their first-round talks with the government and the Health Education Minister K Murali Mohan’s outright rejection of their demands, the agitating doctors boycotted emergency services. The casualty wards and intensive care units of various departments at the government hospitals in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Kakinada,Tirupati, Anantapur, Kurnool and Warangal bore the brunt of the agitation.