Udaipur: On the 11th day of their strike over the death by electrocution of their colleague, Dr Ravi Sharma, at Dilshad hostel of RNT Medical College on June 18, resident doctors Sunday set up tables outside the principal’s office of the attached MB Hospital to establish their own “parallel” outpatient department. They set up separate OPD counters for medicine, paediatrics, gynaecology, surgery, orthopaedics, and ENT, and attended to several patients.Initially, the “parallel” OPD was set up in MB Hospital’s outdoor area, but inclement weather necessitated its relocation to outside the principal’s office. Dr Hitesh Sharma, general secretary of the resident doctors’ union, stated that resident doctors from all departments attended to patients at the parallel OPD. He criticised the college administration for disregarding an issue which has craeted an atmosphere of fear at the college hostel. Some residents have even relocated to stay with friends and family, he said, and no one is going near the water coolers where Dr Sharma suffered a fatal electric shock.The state medical association has also called for a daily boycott of work for two hours, which has begun to impact treatment at CHCs and PHCs in villages and towns.
