Nursing home association strike draws mixed response

INDORE: Strike called by the Madhya Pradesh Nursing Home Association (MPNHA) to lodge its protest against the "forced closure" of Curewell Hospital evoked a mixed response on Wednesday.
Health services in over 170 private hospitals in the city were affected as they desisted from admitting new patients and carry out surgeries. Private hospitals turned away patients, asking them to visit either government hospitals or private clinics.The private hospitals also cancelled or postponed the surgeries fixed for Wednesday, due to which around 500 surgeries were affected. Other services affected due to the strike were out patient department (OPD), investigation centre, referral cases, emergency cases and admission of patients, association sources claimed.
Some of the hospitals in the city put up a banner proclaiming, "Due to the harsh decision of the local administration to close down Curewell Hospital merely owing to an accident, MPNHA's Indore branch has called for an indefinite strike, beginning from September 28." At some hospitals, emergency cases were handled by duty doctors. However, the OPD was closed down completely. At Gokuldas Hospital, patients who came to the OPD were asked to return the next day.
"The members of the association also gathered at the commissioner's office to hand over a memorandum, seeking to quash the order passed by the district administration, as it was simply a technical fault and completely unintentional," said Dr VP Singhal, president of MPNHA. A group of doctors also visited hospitals where admission of patients was being done. These included Gokuldas Hospital, Greater Kailash Hospital, Visheh Hospital, CHL Apollo Hospital and Medanta Hospital.