Over 22,000 doctors from nearly 6,000 medical establishments across Bengaluru will abstain from working in their outpatient departments today. Only emergency cases will be attended by the doctors.

The strike is being called in protest of the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act, 2007 which makes hospitals accountable for medical negligence.

Top doctors like Devi Shetty and Sudarshan Ballal among others will sit in protest between 10 am and 6 pm here. The protest will take place at the Indian Medical Association (IMA) office in Chamarajpet.

The IMA led by Dr HN Ravindra has been on a relay hunger strike in front of the Vidhan Soudha in Belagavi where the legislative session is progressing.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah too has intervened and asked the doctors to call off the strike. He said that this is but a draft bill and as promised the government will consult the doctors on the bill soon.

Siddaramaiah said that the KPME has not been tabled yet and that the agitation by the doctors by putting so many lives at stake is unfair.

The private doctors say that the Karnataka private medical establishments amendment bill includes imprisonment of doctors who may have been erred.

The government has cancelled all leaves of doctors and nurses to handle the increasing number of outpatients as the OPDs in private hospitals have stopped functioning.

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