Rane fails to show up, CM does;GMC doctors’ protest fizzles out

Panaji: A day after giving a 24-hour ultimatum to Goa health minister Vishwajit Rane to issue a public apology for abusing and threatening a Goa Medical College (GMC) senior doctor of the casualty department or face a strike, the Goa Association of Resident Doctors (GARD) Tuesday decided to withdraw their protest and the ultimatum after chief minister Pramod Sawant visited the campus and assured them that “such incidents won’t happen in future”.Sawant also asked Rudresh Kuttikar, the doctor who was berated by Rane on Saturday, to forget the incident with a “big heart” and continue his work at GMC.“All demands were discussed in the meeting today (Tuesday) and all the demands have been met,” the CM said after holding discussions with GARD representatives, dean SM Bandekar and medical superintendent Rajesh Patil, with Kuttikar in attendance.GARD president Aayush Sharma, refusing to entertain any questions on their prior demand for a public apology, said the CM agreed to all their demands.

He said they were calling off all forms of protest “for the betterment of the people of Goa, because people of Goa must not suffer at any cost”.“The health minister does not have the grace to visit GMC personally and apologise for his behaviour,” the doctors said. “His unrepentant attitude for the uncultured and arrogant outburst remains an indelible mark against him.”However, they said that “if this incident escalates further into a battle of egos, it will lead to a complete shutdown of services at GMC, which is the sole tertiary healthcare facility catering to Goa”.

Dr Madhu Ghodriker, who is in charge of forensics at the South Goa District Hospital, showed up in the dean’s office for the discussions and said a written apology from Rane would come “via the proper channel”. “CM himself has come and addressed our grievances and settled the issue,” Ghodriker said.He said Kuttikar’s demand for an apology was misinterpreted as a demand for a personal apology to him in the same place the incident occurred."All of us apologised in front of the CM that we will not allow the chair to be insulted again," he said.Sawant told reporters that for the protection of doctors, he would post a police sub inspector-rank officer at the GMC outpost and 50 additional personnel for the protection of medical staff of GMC.He directed the dean and MS to strictly prohibit videography and photographs in patient care areas at GMC and asked the dean to enhance the grievance redressal system by constituting a disciplinary committee to handle comments by or against medical professionals.To enhance the security of medical staff, Sawant advised police to share a common mobile number to attend to complaints from GMC's medical professionals.