Fourteen patients died in the last 36 hours in the Rajendra Institute of Medical Science (RIMS) when the nurses and junior doctors of the institute were on a strike against an assault case on one of its staff members.

The strike started when a patient named Geeta Devi died after a nurse gave her an injection. After her death, the nurse was trounced by Devi's custodians on Friday night in response to which, the aggressive nurses and junior doctors went on a strike on Saturday morning and did not allow the admission of new patients in the hospital. Moreover, those who were already admitted to the hospital were deprived of any medicine or treatment and thus the patients were shifted to other hospitals. Such an incident caused the death of 14 patients.

According to FIRSTPOST, the chief minister said that everyone had the right to protest but chaos would not be tolerated in the RIMS. The strike was called off when Ramchandra Chandravanshi (Health minister) and Tripathy reached RIMS for dialogue.

This is not the first case in Jharkhand when many patients had to suffer and some even lost their lives.

Similarly, last year in Patliputra Medical College (PMCH), Jharkhand, doctors and interns went on a strike when a junior doctor was thrashed by the patient's family in the central emergency, alleging delay in treatment.

Many patients were unattended and even waited for hours for the doctor in the hospital after the strike.

According to PMCH registration records, around 2,700 patients had appointments with doctors of various departments that day. (Indian Express)

According to PMCH authorities, two doctors were attacked by the patient's family. Where one received an eye injury, the other doctor was attacked with a sharp weapon from behind. A complaint was lodged with the police.

This case represents negligence from both the doctors and the government's side.

Last year, it had been reported that a total number of 660 children died in RIMS hospital.

According to Medical Dialogues, earlier in September 2016, medical practitioners working with several government hospitals in the state commenced a three-day strike demanding implementation of medical protection across all hospitals. Although the emergency panel was operational, all the doctors boycotted their work.

According to Indian Express, "The entire state is being catered to be by only 1,170-odd doctors. Out of this only 800-odd are actually available for on-ground duty. One doctor is holding multiple charges. On the other hand, the doctors have to bear the brunt of the anger of attendants of patients. The government has been assuring us since last year that effective action would be taken with respect to such demands. However, nothing has moved forward. That is why we have been forced to resort to such boycott. Even so, we are trying our best not to let common man face inconvenience", IMA, Jharkhand State Secretary Dr. Pradeep.

Now the question of the hour is, shouldn't there be any safety provisions for doctors and nurses? Shouldn' there be any provision for the patients during strikes? Why had the Jharkhand government not taken any steps to ensure the smooth running of hospitals and rehabilitation of the patients during strikes? Or facilitating the conditions as such, the strikes won't even arise.

The cases represent that the government is seen failing time and again to fulfill it's responsibilities, making the patients suffer the consequences.