AGITATION: Doctors and nursing staff of the Government General Hospital who went on a snap strike in Gulbarga on Friday.

GULBARGA: Doctors and employees of the Government General Hospital in Gulbarga went on a snap strike on Friday in protest against the arrest of one of their colleagues, Suresh Babu Bhutale, and his daughter Rakshita, a house surgeon, following the death of a nursing college student Ramesh due to post-operative complications.

Ramesh died on July 3 at Victoria Hospital in Bangalore.

The police, based on a complaint filed by the Dalit Sena and other Dalit organisations, arrested Dr. Bhutale and Dr. Rakshita. The two were released on bail.

Protesting against the arrest, the Gulbarga unit of the Karnataka State Government Doctors Association and members of the Karnataka State Government Employees Association and Nurses Association went on strike disrupting medical services in the hospital for more than three hours before the Headquarters Assistant to Deputy Commissioner Ravikiran Vanti persuaded the doctors and the employees to report back to duty by promising that their demands would be considered sympathetically.

President of doctors association S.S. Sali told presspersons that their intention was not to make patients suffer but to voice their protest against the illegal arrest of Dr. Bhutale and the false charge against Dr. Rakshita. He said the employees and doctors had empathy for Ramesh's family but there was no truth in the allegations that Ramesh had died due to doctors' negligence.

In view of the financial condition of Ramesh's family, the doctors and employees of the hospital had collected Rs. 60,000 to help Ramesh get treatment in Hyderabad. Dr. Sali said there was no basis in the allegation that Dr. Rakshita had performed the operation on Ramesh.

Denying a charge that doctors had stopped performing operations after this incident, Vijaykumar Gaekwad, Resident Medical Officer of the hospital, said operations were being conducted as usual.

District Surgeon P. Susheela was not available for comments as she was attending a meeting in Bangalore.

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