Doctors protest in Goa, services at GMCH hit partially

Panaji: The services at the state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and its facilities across the state were partially affected Friday as several doctors went on a one-day strike in solidarity with their counterparts in West Bengal.

The protest was part of the nationwide strike call given by medical associations after a patient’s relatives assaulted two junior doctors at NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

The doctors are pressing for more stringent laws to protect them from such assaults. The Goa Association of Resident Doctors (GARD) president Veeresh HM said a majority of doctors participated in the protest.

“We demand immediate arrest of all perpetrators involved (in the attack on doctors at Kolkata hospital) and a formal apology from the Chief Minister of West Bengal for her actions related to the incident,” he said in a release. Medical services in Goa were not paralysed as senior doctors were attending to patients, he said.

The doctors attached to the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Goa branch also extended their support to the protest by wearing black badges on arms and black shirts. “We strongly feel that the West Bengal government should support the doctors,” IMA member and senior oncologist Dr Shekhar Salkar said.