Strike brings down doctors’ strength by 30 per cent across Gujarat

This puts the total number of qualified doctors rendering services in state-run hospitals,including public health centres and community health centres,at 3,894. But with resident doctors on strike,30 per cent of the total is currently not reporting for duty.

According to the state Health and Family Welfare Department,there are 495 vacant posts in state government hospitals.

Resident doctors,though not officially employed,render medical services as part of their postgraduate courses in some of these hospitals that have medical colleges attached to them.

This also means that the percentage of lost manpower in these particular hospitals is apparently much higher.

When Newsline asked Health Commissioner

Dr Amarjeet Singh about the shortage and what were the government’s contingency plans should the strike prolong,he said that no hospital was short-staffed and that he did not expect the strike to last long. “We have pulled in doctors from the rural areas and all the hospitals are running at full capacity,” he said.

Meanwhile,in a late night development,the Gujarat wing of the Indian Medical Association declared

its support to the ongoing strike by the resident doctors. IMA Gujarat president Dr Mansukh Kanani said,“We have declared our support to the resident doctors and have requested the state government to work towards reaching an amicable solution.”

(With PTI inputs)