Doctors to go on mass leave in capital district today

Doctors in Health Service across the capital district will go on leave en masse on Tuesday, to protest against the manner in which the government allegedly allowed mob violence to dictate how it should proceed in the medical negligence case brought up against the doctor at Nedumangad taluk hospital.

In a statement here, Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association said that despite the mob violence that occurred at the hospital and the physical assault against the hospital Superintendent and the district medical officer, the government has done nothing to initiate action against the perpetrators of violence.

It said that the attack on the Hospital Superintendent and the District Medical Officer was a disgrace to a democratic society. KGMOA demanded that the government take immediate steps to arrest those who unleashed violence at the hospital and take legal measures under the Hospital Protection Act.

The Association has demanded that the suspension order issued against Bindu Sundar, the gynaecology consultant accused of medical negligence, be revoked immediately as punishing a doctor even before the enquiry report is out was a violation of natural justice.

It protested that terming all medical complications as medical negligence and piling the blame on doctors and harassing them should end and that a safe working environment be provided for healthcare professionals

The government must issue clear guidelines preventing disciplinary action against healthcare workers, before the completion of a scientific and impartial investigation.

KGMOA’s district committee said that all its members will stay away from all patient care services in the district, except emergency care on Tuesday.