Mangaluru: In the light of all private medical establishments staying closed on Friday on a call given by the Indian Medical Association in protest against the Karnataka Private Medical Establishment Amendment Act 2017, the district administration has asked all medical and paramedical staff to report for duty to take care of health emergencies.

Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis told on Thursday that all government hospitals and health centres would function in the district and attend to healthcare cases. All the medical and paramedical staff had been told to report for duty and not to take leave, she said. Madhusudhan Nayak, District Surgeon of the District Government Hospital, said that all specialists, doctors, nurses and paramedical staff had been told to report for duty on Friday.

They had been told to remain in the headquarters from 6 a.m. on Friday to 6 a.m. on Saturday. As many as 20 specialists would be on duty in their respective departments during this period at the District Government Hospital. Two doctors would be on duty in the Emergency Ward. Nearly 60 nurses, laboratory technicians and other paramedical staff too would be on duty at the hospital, he said.

Though all private medical establishments were going to shut down, the IMA had made an exception in the case of the Emergency and Trauma Department of the Kasturba Hospital in Manipal. It would function as usual to deal with emergency cases in the interests of patients.