KARACHI, Aug 24: The expectant mothers were once again denied consultancy at the out-patient department (OPD) of the city government-run Sobhraj Maternity Hospital as doctors continued their strike on Wednesday in protest against what they called 'insecurity' at the workplace.

No patient was admitted to the 120-bed maternity hospital in Saddar town till Wednesday evening due to the suspension of healthcare services at the OPD and emergency section of the hospital since Monday, said a source in the hospital.

Operating theatres and out-patient department (OPD) remained non-functional for the past three days and patients largely coming from lower income groups and nearby localities faced serious problems.

Following the strike a number of expectant mothers seeking hospital care and other emergency examinations had to be rushed out of the Sobhraj hospital.

Speaking to Dawn , medical superintendent of the hospital Dr Anwar Ali Khawaja, however, sounded optimistic and said that the hospital would restart its normal function on Thursday.

A meeting of junior and senior doctors was held in the morning and the medical staffs in view of the acceptance of a couple of demands agreed to reopen the OPD on Thursday, he said, adding that about 10 patients were attended to in the emergency section on Wednesday till 1pm, but none of them needed to be admitted to the hospital.

Conceding to the demands put up by the protesting doctors, the CDGK health department also took some emergent measures on Monday.

However, doctors continued their protest, demanding measures to control entry of male attendants and relatives of female patients visiting the OPD, emergency section or other wards of hospital and reduce their direct interaction with lady doctors on duty.

The doctors were irked by an indecent in which a patient's attendants and relatives misbehaved with the hospital staff on Sunday.

According to the protesting doctors, the relatives and attendants of a woman who delivered a stillborn baby due to an umbilical cord proplapse became angry.

In the absence of an adequate security at the hospital, the protesting attendants used abusive language against the hospital staff and threatened them with dire consequences, the doctors said.

About the procedure to handle patients in the hospital, the doctors said that there was a counter for slip for the OPD and emergency which remained opened in the first shifts when male staffers handled the affairs and as such there remain little room for any direct interaction between male attendants and lady doctors and female paramedic.

However, during the remaining parts of the day and nights there is no such system to handle the visitors, the doctors added.

Women patients, along with their male relatives and husbands, directly report to the emergency which is attended by female doctors and staffers in the afternoon and night shifts and that creates difficult situation for doctors mostly house job officers and postgraduate trainee doctors, they added.

Medical superintendent Dr Khawaja said that security had been beefed up further, while the use of male staffers during the afternoon and night shifts in the hospital was also planned.

“We will be having at least four private security guards at a time from Thursday when doctors are expected to resume their works as usual.”

He said that there had been no new admissions during the past three days and as such the beds remained unoccupied.

However, there are standing instructions that if patients reported in the emergency and sought admission, they should be admitted for treatment without any delay, the MS added.

In the meantime, Dr Samrina Hashmi of the Pakistan Medical Association, Sindh chapter, in a statement expressed solidarity with doctors and medical staff of the Sobhraj hospital.

She demanded that people causing nuisances in hospitals should not be allowed to get off scot-free and proper security should be provided at all hospitals.