A patient being taken out of PMCH in a rickshaw on Monday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Jan. 31: Patients were clearly reduced to hapless species and were made to pay hard today for a crime committed by an RJD MLA’s bodyguard last night.

Hundreds of patients from Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) and Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) had no option but to move to private nursing homes as junior doctors’ strike stopped work at all departments of the health hubs.

The incident of firing at medicos at Anugraha Narayan Medical College and Hospital in Gaya on Sunday triggered the statewide strike. Two junior doctors were injured in the incident. The supporters of Surendra Yadav, an RJD MLA from Beligam constituency in Gaya and a former excise minister, were allegedly involved in the incident.

The emergency wards of both PMCH and NMCH wore a deserted look as relatives started wheeling out patients to private nursing homes from early this morning after getting a rough idea about what was in store. The attendants of the patients accused junior doctors of insensitivity and demanded they resumed duty.

There are about 600 junior doctors at PMCH and approximately 300 at NMCH.

Mangal Yadav, a resident of Chhapra had brought his mother, suffering from high blood pressure, to PMCH yesterday morning. “Since midnight, no one came to attend her even as her condition deteriorated. I finally moved her to a nearby nursing home. I do not have much money and have no clue how I will pay the hospital bills. But I cannot see her die without treatment,” said a distraught Mangal.

Pushpa Ranjan from Danapur had a similar tale to tell. “I am a widow and survive on petty income by working in a beauty parlour. My son fell from the third floor of a building and ended up with multiple fractures, including three broken ribs. He is hospitalised here for past four days. Now there is no doctor to attend to him. I will have to move him to a nursing home. I am feeling so helpless. Why cannot the government force the doctors to resume duties for the sake of poor people like us?” she asked.

Junior doctors, meanwhile, were reluctant to come back to work. “Police have arrested the MLA’s supporters but the real culprit is he. Unless action is taken against him, we are not going to resume work. We are concerned about our patients and their plight but the government should first ensure that we are given a proper environment to work in,” said Dr Virendra Kumar, a member of Junior Doctors’ Association at PMCH.

“We understand there could be some mistake on the part of interns at Gaya but that cannot entitle anybody to take such an action. If your electrician is not working right, it does not mean you have the right to kill him. All doctors are working under tremendous pressure and with limited resources at every medical college in the state but no one is ready to understand that. Why should the doctors be victimised each time?” Kumar said.

Junior Doctors’ Association members of NMCH, Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Bhagalpur, and Darbhanga medical colleges put forth similar demands.

Amarjeet Sinha, the principal secretary of the health department, pleaded the doctors to return to duty. “I promise that action will be taken against the guilty,” he said.