More than 300 resident doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (Aiims) went on a relay hunger strike late on Monday evening. The resident doctors are demanding reinstatement of a senior resident from the department of neurosurgery, who was accused of molesting an eight-year-old boy admitted in the hospital ICU in January this year.
The hospital’s internal inquiry report and Delhi police’s investigation had found nothing conclusive against the accused doctor. The doctors on strike have said patient services will not be hit in any manner.
“We will continue till our demand for justice to the doctor is not met, “ said Dr Debjyoti Karmakar, president, resident doctors association.
Doctors want tainted colleague back
Doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have found a new way to express their anger and thoughts regarding the 'injustice' happening at the medical institute. At one end, one can find a large number of pamphlets around the campus area which talk about the 'faulty' examinations that happen every year in each department, while on the other hand, more than 100 doctors from the institute are protesting on Monday to get their colleague back, who was charged with a case of sexual harassment.
Black day
On Monday, more than 100 doctors will demonstrate at the institute. The protest is called "black Monday..black badges and huddle for Shejoy". Dr Shejoy P Joshua, a senior resident of the AIIMS neurosurgery department, was alleged of molesting a seven-year-old child who had undergone surgery in the institute for brain tumour.
"We are basically fighting against the injustice happening here. The administration is not keen on looking at the issues. Shejoy is innocent and we will fight for him," said one of the doctors participating in the protest on the condition of anonymity.
The doctors are also updating their posts on the social networking websites like Facebook. "There have been matters where the administration has been ignoring our issues. This highlights how the system in the institute works. We are basically mourning the death of justice in AIIMS by wearing black badges," said Dr Debjyoti Karmakar, president, Resident Doctors Association (RDA), AIIMS.
Paperwork
Meanwhile, other groups of doctors have been distributing pamphlets regarding the problems with the examinations process. "It's really shameful that AIIMS has been flouting the rules every time and no action is taken. By distributing these pamphlets, we want to ensure that we do not remain quite," said a spokesperson from Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum (PSMF), an organisation running within the institute.
The pamphlets mention all the details about the examinations from the year 2000 to present.
The official spokesperson of AIIMS, Dr Y K Gupta, was not available for comments.