Patient footfall starts increasing in Kolkata State-run hospitals; senior doctors bear the burden of work

After 20 days of strike by protesting resident doctors, patients have started trickling in the State-run hospitals of Kolkata, but services are yet to fully resume. Despite appeals by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Supreme Court, the doctors have continued with their strike and senior doctors are filling up for junior doctors.

At R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH), patients thronged the OPD ticket counter on Wednesday morning, setting a stark contrast to the week preceding it when the rape and murder of a female doctor, and mob violence at the hospital on the midnight of August 15, had collectively resulted in a dip in patient load.

A crowd gathered outside the OPD, with patients waiting to buy a ticket or waiting for their turn to consult the senior doctors, who have continued to report to duty amid the junior doctors’ ceasework protest.

An OPD patient at the hospital said he waited for the turmoil to die down a little before visiting the doctor. He said, “I have nerve-related issues. I am a poor man, I work at a factory, I can get free medicines here. I ran out of medicine, but I was scared to come to the hospital after seeing all the violence on the news channels. I was not able to sleep for so many days without my medicines.” He waited at the ticket counter from 8 a.m. and remained determined to see the doctors at any cost and get his essential medicines.

“I have always come to R.G. Kar for treatment. I did not come for the last two weeks because I saw on the news that the situation was turbulent. My daughter is pregnant, so I had to bring her here today for a check-up,” Supriya said, as she waited outside the OPD ward on Wednesday.

A resident of nearby Dum Dum, she added that she faced no obstruction in getting an OPD ticket that morning. “We did not have to wait too long for my daughter to be assigned a doctor for her consultation. The treatment we receive here is good, and we are not facing any issues,” she added.

Beena Mondal and her pregnant daughter, who reside in nearby Belgachhia, were also among the patients who had come for a consultation at the hospital’s OPD on Wednesday. “My daughter had her date for a follow-up last week, but the situation seemed a lot more tense, so we did not come. Today, I left it up to God to take care of us,” she said. “We are poor people. We cannot go to private hospitals or nursing homes. How long can we not come here?”

Mohammad Irshad Mansuri, who broke his arm around a month back, also observed that the patient flow at the hospital had increased this week. “I came here last week but struggled to reach it, because of protest rallies in this area. Today, I am here for a follow-up and the situation is better, and I am seeing many more patients here,” he said.

Similar scenes were witnessed at Medical College, Kolkata (MCK) where protests also erupted among junior doctors following the rape and murder at RGKMCH. “I know junior doctors are on strike, but my daughter is receiving good treatment from the senior doctors here,” said a patient’s mother on condition of anonymity.

Her daughter was admitted to the gynaecology and obstetrics ward at MCK for childbirth. “Nothing is at a standstill in terms of treatment. She is doing well here,” she said.

Protests continue; demands unmet

Speaking about the doctors’ protests, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealed to the resident doctors on Wednesday to get back to their duties. Ms. Banerjee also said: “Many poor people have died due to lack of treatment. People who have money, crorepatis, can afford to go to private hospitals. But the poor cannot afford this. Where will they go? I ask you, when a pregnant lady is in labour, doctors have to do her delivery, can she wait?”

Protesting resident doctors refused to budge as none of their primary demands for the protests were met. A protesting doctor at Medical College, Kolkata said: “We are doctors, we are here to serve people, we want to get back to work…because it is our duty as a medical professional. But tell us, with what hope will we go back to work? None of our demands have been met, our colleague who was raped and murdered has not seen justice.”

Senior doctors bear the load

Professor Pranab Kumar Biswas, a senior doctor and Head of the Department at Gynaecology and Obstetrics at Medical College, Kolkata told The Hindu: “Patients are slowly increasing in numbers. In the Gynaecology and Obstetrics department, we got more than 200 patients on August 29. The numbers had gone down to 100-150 a week before. Our usual number is between 250-300 for OPDs on a normal day.”

He also pointed out that working without the resident doctors and his junior counterparts has been hard with the increasing patient load, especially in his department where pregnant mothers giving birth cannot wait to deliver their babies, it is always an emergency in such cases. Prof. Biswas said, “Overall patient load in MC(K) has bounced back to almost 70% of what it used to be before the protests. Poor patients cannot afford private hospitals, many who did not have emergencies waited for weeks, now they are coming back.”

Assistant Professor Dr. Biswajit Ghosh from Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research (aka SSKM), Kolkata, said, “Patient load is definitely bouncing back. But it cannot be 100% because we do not have that much staff since the junior doctors are in protest.”

A protesting resident doctor from the general surgery department at RGKMCH protest site said that patient load in their hospital is also increasing even though it is not as high as before the protests. He said, “The Emergency building is non-functional now after the mob vandalised it. So, senior doctors are using the trauma care centre to conduct emergency services as well. It is chaotic and difficult. General surgery got almost 100 patients on Tuesday.”

He also pointed out that female doctors and students who had gone back home and left their hostels due to increased fear of safety issues at RGKMCH are slowly starting to come back. He said, “Parents are still worried about our safety after the events that transpired here. But doctors and students are coming back as the fear slowly settles down.”

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