Private doctors in Karnataka have decided to continue their protest in Belagavi, where the winter session of the legislature is on, with talks with the State government failing to make any headway on Monday. As planned, the Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) State unit will continue its relay hunger strike in front of Suvarna Soudha from Tuesday.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who called the protesting doctors for talks on Monday, appealed to them to withdraw their strike, assuring them that they will be called again before the controversial Karnataka Private Medical Establishments’ (Amendment) Bill is tabled in the legislature. But the doctors remained unconvinced.
“The Chief Minister’s response was positive and satisfactory. However, we will go ahead with our protest till our demands for dropping the contentious provisions, including that of price capping of various procedures, imprisonment of doctors and setting up of a grievance redressal cell, are met. Otherwise, let the government accept the Vikramjit Sen committee’s report in toto,” said IMA president H.N. Ravindra.
Meanwhile, services in private hospitals across the State were partially hit on Monday. While it was not a total shutdown like the one on November 3, some hospitals in peripheral areas did not see out-patients, except emergency cases. They saw a low patient turnout as most had been asked to reschedule their appointments.
