10 February,2009 08:42 PM IST | | Vedika Tripathi and Alisha Coelho
Thousands of patients have been affected due to the ongoing strike by doctors at the KEM Hospital. Many patients are now being forced to return home.
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The Out Patient Department (OPD) is closed, while the casuality ward is being managed by the interns along with the senior lecturers and professors.
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Laxman Patil came all the way from Uran for the treatment of his 5-year-old child, who fractured his leg and had to leave the hospital.
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"I had visited last Friday and the doctors had asked me to bring my child back today. I am returning home after I was informed that there are no doctors," said Patil.
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His son Aditya was crying due to pain. "My son didn't sleep the whole night and I started at 9am from Uran, reached at KEM at 1.40pm unaware about the strike," Patil added.
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Patil is not the only one who is the victims of this strike. Malti Devi, who came from Navi Mumbai with her mother, complained, "What is our fault. My mother is very serious, she cannot even breathe properly. What will I do if she gets more serious."
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Dr Pravin Bangar, Chief Medical Officer, "Yes, services have been hit badly. On any routine day, we treat more than 5000 OPD patients. We don't have any figures yet." Though, hospital sources said that services today have been slashed to more than half that number.
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Dr Anil Dudhbhate, president, Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors, said "We have got a good response from the management and we expect the preliminary reports tonight. Patients are being taken care of by lecturers, medical officers. We know it is inconvenient, but resident doctors are frequently targets of verbal and physical abuse and this must stop."
