Coronavirus: Telangana doctors reject health minister Etala's call to end strike

Hyderabad: Telangana Junior Doctors Association said they will continue their strike at Hyderabad's Gandhi Hospital. The strike began after an alleged attack on a doctor by a relative of a COVID-19 patient.

The doctors, who sat on a dharna all day long on Wednesday on the main road outside Gandhi Hospital, refused to call off their strike. They also demanded strict action against the attackers and an immediate change in the government policy of pooling all Covid-19 patients at the hospital.

Police have arrested two people in connection with the incident, however, doctors across Telangana have boycotted work, demanding better security.

Efforts to mediate by health minister Etala Rajender late on Wednesday evening, and his call to the doctors to return to work, failed. Prospects of patient services being affected drastically in hospitals have risen with 450 doctors declaring that they have no intention of giving up on the strike.