Patient care at the S K Institute of Medical Sciences Soura was severely hit onTuesday as the resident doctors went on a strike against attachment of the Director of the institute by the government.

The government on Saturday attached SKIMS Director G A Ahangar with the General Administration Department (GAD) and ordered the suspension of three senior faculty members.However, the strike has badly affected the patient care at SKIMS, where patients had to face difficulties due to non-availability of doctors. ''I was scheduled to get an MRI done today. I reached here in the morning, but unfortunately came to know that the doctors have gone on a strike. So, I’m going home without the required test being done,'' a patient from downtown Srinagar said.

Similarly, hundreds of patients, who had come from different parts of the Valley, had to go back home disappointed due to the strike. “Representatives of Resident Doctors Association (RDA) and Non-Gazetted Employees Welfare Association (NGEWA), SKIMS held a meeting in the morning today and discussed the catastrophic situation at the hospital arising due to the attachment of the Director,” a statement issued by RDA and NGEWA coordination committee said here on Tuesday.Condemning the step taken by the government, the statement said it was decided in the meeting that the RDA will continue their strike till the time the Director was not reinstated.“Emergency, Day care Oncology and ICU services will be working as of now,” it said.

However, it said if the Director was not reinstated with honour RDA will withdraw from emergency services and NGEWA shall call for an indefinite strike. “We will also hold a sit-in protest against the government’s move for two hours every day from 1000 hrs at SKIMS,” it added.Prof (Dr) Altaf Kirmani, Dean & Head, Department of General Surgery; Dr Mushtaq Ahmad Wani, Head, Department of Neurology and Dr Wajid Ali, Head, Department of Neonatology, SKIMS, Soura were placed under suspension for violating norms of not practicing while serving at SKIMS.