Raj Sadosh/Abohar.
Strike by private doctors in Rajasthan on the call given by the state chapter of the Indian Medical Association, has forced patients to visit Abohar and other cities in Punjab. Private hospitals have been shut in Sriganganagar and other areas for several days as a protest against the Right to Health Bill. The patients had to return home dejected, but for the last week, they have turned towards Punjab. The relatives of the patients are also coming to Punjab.
Many women from many capable families in Sriganganagar are moving to Abohar, Fazilka, Malout, Bathinda, Ludhiana. Amritsar and Chandigarh. Among them are pregnant women expecting delivery in a few days. Abohar, just 40 km away from Sriganganagar, suits many people. Relatives of many patients are bringing them to Abohar for treatment in their cars or other vehicles. On return from Punjab, they also get diesel or petrol tanks filled in their vehicles as it is cheaper in Punjab.
(SUBHEAD)More than a dozen fuel filling stations are located on Abohar-Sriganganagar Road. Hundreds of people of Punjabi community have relations between Abohar and Sriganganagar, they don’t face accommodation problems.
Notably, it has been a practice at the govt as well as private clinics in Abohar to refer critically injured patients or those having other health emergencies to Sriganganagar where some of the private hospitals have got better infrastructure but they are now referred to Bathinda or Faridkot. Even local patients were in the past advised to get MRI, Colored X-Ray, advanced Ultrasound tests done in Sriganganagar but this also stands suspended now. The patients now have to go to Bathinda, 71-km from here for such tests. Weekly OPDs of Sriganganagar based medical specialists at Abohar have also been affected.