Pune: For 58-year-old Kailash Borde, undergoing treatment for lung cancer at Sassoon General Hospital , the resident doctors’ strike has hit him at the worst possible time. For the last six days, Borde had been trying in vain for an appointment to install a polydrain meant to collect the drainage fluid from the thoracic cavity. “I was admitted to ward 18 on Aug 2, but when my breathlessness got worse, they shifted me to the new building on Aug 8.
Over the past week, only a senior doctor has been visiting me a few minutes. The polydrain was to be installed last week, but we got it done only on Monday evening. The bag is to drain out the fluids from my lungs,” he said.
Like Borde, many patients have had to face major inconvenience as the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) on Aug 13 declared to boycot all elective services at hospitals in solidarity with those protesting the rape-murder of a second-year postgraduate trainee at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata. Sassoon hospital’s outpatient departments (OPDs), in-patient departments and diagnostics have been severely affected while all planned surgeries have been put on hold. However, data obtained from the hospital administration, shows there has been no decline in number of people visiting OPDs, which is adding to the burden of existing staff.
Most of the wards in the 11-storey building wear a deserted look as no new patients have been admitted for a week. The female ophthalmology ward had to be shut as.