The Osmania Medical College strike planned for Monday will suspend elective outpatient department services and elective operation theatre procedures at Osmania General Hospital, while emergency care and essential patient services will continue, the Telangana Junior Doctors Association said on Sunday.
Junior doctors, interns, undergraduate medical students, postgraduate residents, senior residents and representatives from departments across Osmania Medical College are expected to participate in the protest at Osmania General Hospital in Hyderabad. The association said the action follows long-pending concerns over medical training, departmental functioning, infrastructure and working conditions.
The Telangana Junior Doctors Association’s Osmania Medical College unit said residents had repeatedly represented their concerns to the authorities, but that several critical issues remained unresolved. In a statement, the association called for meaningful and time-bound action to address the deficiencies affecting residents’ learning, clinical training and patient care.
The planned suspension of elective OPD services and elective OT procedures is expected to affect scheduled consultations and surgeries during the protest. The association said emergency services and essential patient care would remain uninterrupted, although it did not provide details on the duration of the strike or the arrangements for elective patients whose appointments or procedures may be affected.
The doctors said the protest was not directed at an individual or a single department. According to the association, the concerns relate to the broader environment in which medical residents work and train, including the availability of infrastructure and essential departmental facilities. The association said medical education should not be reduced to the completion of duties without adequate opportunities for learning and clinical training.
Osmania General Hospital is the principal hospital associated with Osmania Medical College, making the protest relevant to both public healthcare delivery and postgraduate medical education. The concerns raised by the association connect hospital infrastructure with the quality of training received by residents and the conditions under which patient services are delivered.
The association said residents had worked for years to secure their residency positions and serve patients, and that their concerns deserved serious consideration and concrete action. It did not specify the individual infrastructure deficiencies, departments affected or a deadline for resolving the issues in the statement cited by Telangana Today.
Junior doctors at other government medical colleges in Telangana, including Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, had not decided whether to join the protest as of Sunday, according to the report. The immediate impact of the action will therefore depend on participation at Osmania General Hospital and on the authorities’ response to the association’s demands.
