After refusing to resume work despite the Supreme Court’s and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s appeals, protesting doctors at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital initiated telemedicine services starting Saturday. It will operate daily from 10 am to 2 pm.
The strike, triggered by the alleged rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the hospital, has seen doctors in several state government-run institutions halt their duties in protest.
This has severely impacted medical services, particularly in emergency and outpatient departments, leaving many poor patients without medical care.
The telemedicine clinic, named ‘Abhaya Clinic’ in honour of the victim, by post-graduate trainee doctors and interns at RG Kar MCH under the banner of West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF) has provided much-needed relief to many.
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“We were overwhelmed by the responses today. Even though the clinic was supposed to start at 10 am, we started getting calls from 9:30 am itself,” Dr Riya Bera of gynaecology and obstetrics department in RG Kar MCH told THE WEEK.
She was among the 50 doctors who worked in shifts to provide medical services to more than 600 patients through the telemedicine facility on Saturday. They attended calls on four phone numbers and shared the prescription over WhatsApp.
“At any given time, 10-12 doctors were handling calls. We tried to assign three doctors for each phone number because calls kept coming one after another,” Dr Bera said.
Services were provided by doctors from medicine, surgery, gynaecology and obstetrics, orthopaedics, paediatrics, ENT, dermatology departments, among others. These departments were chosen because they address most complaints on a daily basis.
The protesting doctors at RG Kar MCH announced plans to expand their telemedicine services. “We didn’t expect so many calls today. If the same continues then we will surely add more phone numbers and doctors,” said Dr Md Tarikul Alam from the orthopaedics department, who participated in providing telemedicine services, to THE WEEK.
The doctors clarified that the telemedicine service does not signify the resumption of their duties nor is it the substitute of regular medical services that they provide. Instead, it is an attempt to partially address patients’ issues while they continue their protest.
Meanwhile, the protesters also denied that the telemedicine service was started in response to appeals from the Supreme Court of India and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. They emphasised that the telemedicine facility reflects their willingness to return to work.
“We want to resume work. But if our demands are not met, then we will have to continue strike,” Dr Aniket Mahato of the anaesthesia department, one of the leading faces of the movement, told THE WEEK.
Apart from the telemedicine facility, the WBJDF has planned to organise physical health camps, named ‘Abhaya Clinic’ in areas near medical colleges across the state on Sunday.
These camps will operate from 10 am to 2 pm. On September 2, junior doctors will march to Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar to demand resignation of Commissioner Vineet Goyal.
