Wednesday, 13 NOVEMBER 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
A day after Uttarakhand Purva Sainik Kalyan Nigam Limited (UPNL) workers boycotted work on Monday, the OPD at the Government Doon Medical College hospital witnessed a surge in patients on Tuesday. Many patients claimed that due to the UPNL workers’ strike on Monday, they were unable to properly access services at the OPD, leading them to return the next day. They have urged the hospital administration to prepare an action plan to ensure smooth service delivery under such circumstances in the future.
Notably, UPNL employees staged a protest march towards the secretariat on Monday. These workers, who are employed through UPNL, organised the protest to highlight their long-standing demands for salary allowances and appointment-related issues. As a result, around 450 GDMC hospital workers, also employed through UPNL, participated in the protest.
In light of this situation, a patient Manju Negi said that she had visited the OPD on Monday to visit the physician. However, the disruption caused by the workers’ strike led to long queues and delays at the billing and registration counters, due to which she had to visit the hospital again on Tuesday. She emphasised the need for the hospital administration to devise an effective plan for such circumstances.
Another patient Vishnu Dixit said that due to the public holiday on Tuesday, the GDMC OPD opened till 12 PM instead of 2 PM. Nevertheless, he observed a high number of patients in the registration queue for the OPD due to the impact of Monday’s workers’ strike, prompting many patients to revisit the hospital on Tuesday. This resulted in overcrowding and difficulty for other patients to see the doctor promptly. He explained that he had waited in the OPD registration queue for over an hour and had not received his service number.
Numerous other patients and their attendees have raised the same issue regarding the increase in visitors following the return of hospital workers after the strike.
