PG Times

Fulfilling the long time demand of the serving doctors in Himachal Pradesh, the State government on Thursday introduced an amendment bill in the Assembly concerning the safety and security of the doctors and making any kind of violence against them a non-bailable offence. State Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur presented the Himachal Pradesh Medicare service persons and Medicare service institutions (prevention of violence and damage to property) amendment bill 2017. This will be an amendment to the 2009 Medicare Act. Jail term The amended bill has made any offence against the doctors cognizable and non-bailable with a provision for upto three years imprisonment. Section 4 of the 2009 Act had a provision to define any offence as cognizable but bailable. The Himachal Medical Officers Association had been demanding for a long time that the Act be amended and the offence be made non-bailable in view of incidences of violence against the doctors on duty.

By Devi Shetty  and  Sneha Iype Recently, the Supreme Court turned down a request for termination of pregnancy from a 27 week pregnant lady, with a Down syndrome foetus. Indian law prevents termination of pregnancy after 20 weeks of gestation for major foetal abnormalities. However, many developed countries like Canada allow the termination of pregnancy even at an advanced stage, in case of foetal abnormalities. The time has come for us to review the law with restricting termination of pregnancy to within 20 weeks. If the mother feels that she is not mentally ready to take care of a child with incurable cardiac problems or Down syndrome, she should have the right to terminate the pregnancy at a later stage. Operating on a new born baby with a hole in the heart and watching him or her grow up and celebrate life is the most joyful experience a surgeon like me (Shetty) can have. Unfortunately not all the stories I have for my children has a happy ending. About 5% of...

बीएचयू के सर सुंदरलाल अस्पताल में सोमवार की रात जूनियर डॉक्टर्स और छात्रों के बीच हुए विवाद का असर दूसरे दिन भी दिखा। घटना के विरोध में देर रात जूनियर डॉक्टर हड़ताल पर चले गए। वहीं, डॉक्टरों पर कार्रवाई की मांग को लेकर मंगलवार को छात्रों ने केंद्रीय कार्यालय पर जमकर हंगामा किया। कुछ छात्रों ने केंद्रीय कार्यालय चौराहे पर सड़क जाम कर दी तो सौ से अधिक छात्र केंद्रीय कार्यालय पहुंच गए। छात्रों को केंद्रीय कार्यालय तक पहुंचने से रोकने की सुरक्षाकर्मियों की तमाम कोशिशें धरी रह गईं। सुरक्षाकर्मियों ने अंदर से कार्यालय का चैनल को बंद कर दिया तो छात्र वहीं धरने पर बैठ गए। एक ओर जहां छात्र जूनियर डॉक्टरों पर कार्रवाई की मांग पर अड़े रहे, वहीं दूसरी ओर हड़ताल के जरिए जूनियर डॉक्टर भी अपना विरोध दर्ज करा रहे हैं। डॉक्टरों की हड़ताल के चलते मरीजों और तीमारदारों को खासी दिक्कतें उठानी पड़ीं। सोमवार को विज्ञान संस्थान का छात्र शुभम सिंह अपनी दादी के इलाज के लिए अस्पताल आया था। उसकी दादी को प्रसूति तंत्र विभाग में भर्ती किया गया था। शाम को शुभम लेबर रूम में प्रवेश कर गया जहां किसी भी पुरुष...

Last week, some 4,000 doctors in Maharashtra went on strike to protest against assaults on resident doctors.  After an ultimatum issued by the Bombay high court, the doctors returned to work on March 25. Dr Mrigank Warrier explains why the resident doctors' movement is far from over. March 12, 10 pm. An accident victim, with a serious head injury, is brought to the District Civil Hospital, Dhule. After preliminary treatment by the casualty medical officer and examination by a general surgeon, he was examined by orthopaedic surgeon Dr Rohan Mhamunkar. Dr Mhamunkar informed the patient's family that if a CT scan reveals brain injury, the patient would require the expertise of a neurosurgeon and they may have to shift him to a bigger, better hospital. The reason? After 27 years of existence, the Dhule hospital -- which claims to provide healthcare 'not only to Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon and Nashik districts, but also to districts of Madhya Pradesh and Guj...

The Supreme Court on Monday denied permission to a woman to abort her 27-week-old foetus showing signs of severe physical abnormalities. A Bench of Justices S A Bobdey and L Nageshwara Rao referred to the report of the medical board, which had examined the woman, and said that as per the opinion of the doctors, the baby may be “born alive” if the mother is allowed to abort at this stage. The court also observed that as per the doctors’ opinion, the physical condition of the woman is normal and there is no risk to her health. “As regard to the foetus, the report states that, if the pregnancy is terminated in the 27th week, there is a possibility that the baby may be born alive,” the Bench observed. “We don’t consider it appropriate to direct the petitioner (woman) to terminate the foetus,” the court said. Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar told the Bench that as per the report of the medical board of the Mumbai-based K E M Hospital, the foetus has severe physical abnormalities...

“We know stoppage of work amounts to contempt of court and violation of the oath we took upon entering the medical profession, but what can we do when violent attacks have become such a regular feature of our lives?” This statement by a student-doctor at the medicine department of the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital and Medical College in suburban Mumbai sums up the problem that drove Maharashtra’s 4,000-odd medical students to bunk work for six days – starting Sunday. Since March 12, 2017, there have been six instances of patients’ kith and kin attacking doctors at public hospitals across Latur, Dhule, Nashik, Sangli and Mumbai districts. A particularly glaring incident was the assault on Dhule civil hospital doctor Rohan Mahamunkar, who was admitted to the intensive care unit after being blinded in one eye. The state’s resident doctors have two major demands: one, restrictions on the entry of patients’ relatives to ensure that mobs don’t gather at hospitals and, t...

Robert Clements “What shall we play today?” asks India. “Doctor Bashing!” reply the people, as they walk to a hospital with iron rods and sticks. Last evening, I had a visitor, a young medical student from one of Maharashtra’s medical colleges where doctors are getting bashed up with increasing frequency! I had seen her as a child, studious, intelligent, an intensive public speaker, had watched as she’d put heart and soul into her books, finally to win a seat in medicine. She had won. Was overjoyed. And now fearful. “I knew the doctor they beat up,” she whispered, “He was an excellent teacher, and an insightful physician, now the mob have made him a cripple! Is that what’s going to happen to us?” Yes, is that what is going to happen to some in the medical profession? There have been over two hundred and fifty cases of such thrashing of doctors in Maharashtra alone! And it’s happening all over India. In the days of old, when an influential patient fell ill or wa...