Four more dead as Andhra docs intensify stir

New Delhi: Medical services continued to be hit across Andhra Pradesh today as the indefinite strike by junior doctors entered Day 3 amid reports of at least 12 children dying due to negligence. However, official sources put the death toll to four.

The Indian Medical Association is backing the agitation.

The agitators have been demanding immediate arrest of Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) MLA Afsar Khan under non-bailable charges and his suspension from the Assembly for attacking the doctors on duty on Sunday last. The state government has promised a CID inquiry into the attack and has deputed the Health and Welfare Ministers to hold talks with the doctors.

Khan had allegedly assaulted a lady doctor on Sunday, claiming that she and other doctors delayed treatment of a child at the government-run Niloufer hospital in Hyderabad. The MLA was arrested but later released on bail. Junior doctors in Vijayawada and Warangal have joined the strike in solidarity.

Senior doctors at Niloufer, biggest state-run children's hospital in the state, too staged a token protest to express solidarity with the junior doctors.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy directed the hospital authorities to shift children to private hospitals to provide emergency treatment.

However, officials denied that the deaths were due to the strike.

The strike is causing great difficulty to patients.

"The children are very sick. The doctors say that go to Nilofouer but when we came here we found that there is a strike. We are very worried," said a parent.

Agreed another, "We have small childern - all three to four months old and they are sick. But there is no one to cure them."

Hyderabad district Collector R Chandravadan said the critical care services remained unaffected and the deaths were not a result of the agitation.

The state government Doctors Association was scheduled to meet at 1400 hrs (IST) to chalk out their course of action.

Meanwhile, the landmark operation of six-year-old Nagarjun, who was born with three legs and two pelvic girdles, has begun at the hospital.