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Strike disease spreads heartbreak at hospitals
View(s):Wimaladasa Perera, 74, who suffers from heart disease and high blood pressure, was seated outside ward 27 of the National Hospital on Tuesday not knowing that he will not be seeing a doctor. He had made the trip from Talagala.
Gates closed: The OPD at the National Hospital. Pix by Priyantha Wickramaarachchi
“I took my medicine in the morning I don’t have any for the rest of the day. It costs me at least 400 rupees to travel back and forth,’’ he lamented.
He was one of thousands who suffered due to a token strike by the Government Medical Officers Association on Tuesday. Ms Undulawathi, from Homagama came to Colombo at 10:00 am to get medication for her daughter. The gates were shut. “It is true that doctors have issues but these strikes ultimately make patients helpless,’’ she said.
Mohamed Zarook from Wellampitiya said he had been to three pharmacies but none would give him medicine because he did not have his clinic card which was at the hospital. How would he get his medicine, he asked.
Mohamed Milar, 63, from Grandpass, was admitted for five days due to pneumonia and he came for his clinic visit a week after being discharged. He was left high and dry. This was not fair, he complained.
The Director of the National Hospital, Dr. Anil Jasinghe, admitted that the strike had a bearing on the Outpatients Department and clinic appointments.
He said patients could return and get another appointment. “Patients in wards were not affected and some routine surgeries were performed while in some theatres only emergency surgeries were done,’’ he said. Surgeries that had been postponed would be rescheduled.
Dr Asela Gunawardene, the director of the Colombo South Teaching Hospital, told the Sunday Times that the OPD and the clinic were affected, but that patients with fever symptoms were attended to. Casualty surgeries and certain routine surgeries were done. Surgeries will depend on the the waiting list, he said.
Wimaladasa Perera
“If it is a surgery depending on the waiting list, it will sometimes take months and the clinic patients will be allocated a date once again depending on the waiting list which does not most often take a long time,’’ he explained.
The Director of the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital, Dr Chandana Kandangamuwa said OPD patients always have the option of returning even if there is a strike and clinic patients have been advised to come back the following Wednesday.
According to Dr Kandangamuwa, when there is a strike, routine surgeries are not scheduled for that day. They are done after the strike ends. However some surgeries were conducted on that day.
Meanwhile, the Director of the Kegalle Teaching Hospital Dr Wasantha Dissanayake said only the OPD patients were affected and operations were normal.
“Some clinics like the dental clinic and the chest clinic were conducted as the doctors opted out of the strike and all routine surgeries were performed,’’ he said.
Undulawathi
Mohamed Zarook
Mohamed Milar: Left high and dry after coming for his first clinic date after being discharged