Goa docs join nationwide strike on IMA call

Panaji, Dec 11 (IANS) Doctors affiliated to the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in Goa on Friday participated in the nationwide strike against the Centre’s recent decision to allow postgraduate ayurvedic doctors to perform different surgeries, with a senior official claiming that services were not hit due to alternate arrangements.
Speaking to IANS, President of the Goa chapter of IMA, S. Samuel, said that doctors in the state had been told to withdraw from providing non-essential and non-Covid-related services till later in the evening.
“We have requested our member doctors to withdraw all services other than these two,” Samuel said. The daylong strike will culminate at 6 p.m.
He said that he is hopeful that the Central government will heed to the demands of the IMA. “We have already raised this issue in Goa with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant,” Samuel said.
An official spokesperson for Healthway Hospital, a private health facility located near Panaji, said: “The doctors stand in solidarity with the IMA. However, all emergencies, essential services and Covid treatment continue to be administered at the hospitals.”
A senior Official in the state Directorate of Health Services said: “No emergency services or treatment of Covid-19 patients has been impacted on account of the strike by the IMA-affiliated doctors. We have made special provisions at our public health centres to ensure that common people are not impacted by the absence of doctors from routine duties.”

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