Mysuru: Healthcare services in city will be crippled tomorrow as more than 600 private hospital doctors are leaving to Belagavi today as part of “Belagavi Chalo” to protest against the proposed amendments to the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (KPME) Act. The doctors from Mysuru will join over 25,000 doctors from across the State who are assembling at Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi where the Winter Session of the Assembly is scheduled to begin tomorrow.

There will be no new admission of patients, no casualty and no Out-Patient Departments (OPD) at over 150 hospitals in Mysuru city and over 1,300 clinics and nursing homes. Along with private hospitals in city, private hospitals in rural areas too will be affected. Only in-patients will be treated by junior doctors and Post-Graduate Medical students. Almost all the senior doctors are leaving for Belagavi.

According to reports, doctors have already started leaving Mysuru in batches and by noon, over four Volvo buses carrying doctors have left the city. The rest will leave in their private vehicles and taxies. “We have over 600 senior medical practitioners drawn from all private hospitals in city and by this evening, more than nine buses will leave the city. Other doctors are expected to take their own vehicles and taxies,” Indian Medical Association (IMA) – Mysuru Chapter President Dr. Vishveshwar told Star of Mysore.

He said that it was a “do or die” situation for the doctors and they were opposing the “draconian” laws proposed by the State Government. “From tomorrow, we will give a deadline of three days for the Government to drop the proposed amendments. If the Government fails to do so, we will be forced to resign from medical profession.

IMA Member Dr. H.R. Sanjay said that they were forced to take the protest route as there is no official communication from the government that they will review the Bill. On Monday morning, around 9am, about 25,000 doctors will assemble in front of Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi.

“There are four major parts of the Bill we want the CM to have a look at. First, there should be no grievance redressal committee at the district level. Second, the patient’s charter should be mere guidelines and not a law. Third, we cannot have the government fix charges for various procedures and treatments. Fourth, we do not want doctors to be treated like criminals and jailed without any motive,” he added.

Dr. B.H. Manjunath of Brindavan Hospital, who is also the City BJP President, told SOM that the protest in Belagavi was to draw the government’s attention and not to inconvenience patients. “Patient services will go on as usual, but outpatient services may get affected. We are also planning to launch a relay hunger strike in Belagavi from tomorrow and the relay hunger strike will go on till our demands are met,” he said.

NO LEAVE FOR GOVT. DOCTORS: In the wake of private hospital doctors moving away from the city to Belagavi, the District Health Officer (DHO) has directed all government doctors not to take leave from tomorrow.

DHO Dr. B. Basavaraju has issued a directive to all government-run hospitals including the K.R. Hospital, Cheluvamba, PKTB Sanatorium, Epidemic Diseases Hospital, all community Health Centres and Primary Health Centres in the district to brace up for emergencies.