Mangaluru : The strike call given by private doctors has resulted in an increase in the number of patients in Government Wenlock Hospital in the city. Doctors attached to private hospitals have been off work since Monday to protest against some provisions of the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Bill.

Wenlock Hospital, which receives an average of 1,000 to 1,100 outpatients a day, witnessed an additional rush due to the strike by private hospitals on Thursday. Though patients had to wait at the outpatient department at Wenlock Hospital all were treated at the hospital.

Superintendent of Wenlock Hospital H R Rajeshwari Devi said that the hospital treated about 1,700 patients at the OPD of the hospital.

Even the Udupi district hospital too saw a surge in the number of patients at OPD.

“A patient suffering from lung fluid visited a few private hospitals in Udupi for treatment but after being turned away, he reached the district hospital and was admitted,” a doctor from Udupi district hospital said.

Social worker Ibrahim Gangolli admitted a patient from Gangolli to the Udupi district hospital.

A release from Fr Muller Medical College in Mangaluru said that all ICU beds in the hospital were full for the last two days. Those patients who needed ventillators and ICU care were sent to another set up, the release stated.

Patients have been bearing the brunt of the strike as doctors attached to private hospitals have been off work since Monday.

A few of the private hospitals in Mangaluru had shut completely while a few provided OPD services to patients.

“We kept our OPD open. Doctors were treating patients. In fact, several patients had called us asking whether the hospital is functioning. We have asked the patients to come only in case of emergencies. As a result, the number of patients who visited the hospital has been less,” the PRO of a private hospital in Deralakatte, on the outskirts of Mangaluru, said.

All private hospitals remained closed in support of the protest call given by IMA in Udupi district. Major hospitals like Adarsha, TMA Pai, KMC, Manipal had shut all its OPD services in Udupi. In some hospitals security guards were seen sending away patients from the gates of the hospital in Udupi.

Adarsha Hospital Director Dr K Chandrashekar said that, “Normally we get 300 out patients and 150 in patients daily. Today all were sent back. This measure was being taken to express solidarity with the Indian Medical Association’s call to protest against KPME Bill, 2017.”