Resident doctors, interns and junior doctors at GMCH Nagpur are on an indefinite strike since Thursday demanding termination of Dr Makrand Vyawahare (former Vice Dean and head of the Forensic Sciences Department) who has been accused of harassing junior doctors, with one PG student even attempting suicide due to the harassment by Dr. Vyawahare. Another female junior doctor has charged him with mental and sexual harassment too.

These charges levelled against him led the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) to call an indefinite strike starting Thursday. MARD issued a statement saying, “The Nagpur incident where one resident doctor tried to commit suicide, a female resident doctor filed complaint of sexual harassment and 1000 undergraduates complained against one person is very serious. Just because he is a relative of the Finance Minister, he cannot be given special treatment.” warned the MARD and added “The Medical Education Secretary’s office, Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) and GMC Nagpur Dean have failed to perform their duty.

Charges being levelled against Dr. Vyawahare include:

– A sexual harassment charge by a female student. Her complaint was first made on Wednesday but the committee didn’t conduct an enquiry till a week later. This was because the head of the committee was on leave the day after the complaint was filed.

– Multiple harassment charges by UG and PG students. MARD claims up to 1,000 UG students have complained. These were recorded by the college authorities this past Monday and forwarded to Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) the very next day. These will be forwarded to the health secretary soon.

On 3 July, 2015 MARD had made a set of 8 demands which are still pending. MARD stressed this point. Following this, Joint director of Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) Dr Prakash Wakode met members of MARD’s GMC chapter on Wednesday, and asked them to reconsider the strike as it was affecting services at hospitals. In the last three days, many planned surgeries, deliveries and OPD services were discontinued.

Only 13 surgeries were performed at the hospital on Monday, and 32 were performed on Tuesday. On Wednesday, even the other surgeries were performed as it was a government holiday. Only emergency services are being run by the lecturers. MARD members made it clear that their demand to – suspend Dr. Vyawahare from his post is the only solution to restoring services at the hospital. They submitted a letter with other demands and a list of allegations against the former Vice Dean.

While some of the demands like – Maternity and TB leave being sanctioned and increased stipend from December are being met, the key issue of Dr. Vyawhare, Freeship (exemption from paying tuition fees, for students from financially poor backgrounds) and Bond release are not being solved. The students see this as the directorate and government trying to distract them from the main issue and are continuing their strike.

In the mean time, some state government officials have threatened the resident doctors that Maharashtra Essential Services and Maintenance Act (MESMA) will be invoked against them if they continue with the strike despite assurances of strict action against Dr Vyawahare. The accused doctor has not been coming to the hospital since the strike has begun and is believed to be delaying the proceedings. Hospital officials meanwhile are trying to calm down the students and resident doctors, promising expedited action against Dr. Vyawahare and bring justice to the students.

Post edited from: TOI, Nagpur Today, nyooz.com

Image credits: Nagpur Today

   Send article as PDF