An indefinite strike by medical students and resident doctors disrupted outpatient services and elective surgeries at Hyderabad’s Osmania General Hospital on Monday, with protesters demanding time-bound action on long-pending infrastructure deficiencies at the hospital and Osmania Medical College. Emergency services at the hospital remained operational.
Undergraduate students, interns, postgraduate residents and senior residents reportedly boycotted their regular duties and classes after the Osmania Medical College Junior Doctors Association called the strike. Protesters gathered on the Osmania General Hospital campus from Monday morning and raised concerns about conditions affecting patient care, clinical work and medical education.
The association said the deficiencies extended beyond Osmania General Hospital and affected several government medical colleges in Telangana. Its demands included improvements to departmental facilities, essential clinical equipment and learning infrastructure for medical students and residents.
“There are several infrastructural shortfalls in medical colleges in Telangana. There is a need for immediate, time-bound action to address such challenges,” OMC JUDA president Dr Narahari Chandrakanth Reddy said, according to Telangana Today.
The protest also brought attention to the financial pressures facing state-run teaching hospitals. OMC JUDA representatives said chronic delays in the payment of Aarogyasri medical bills had affected government hospitals across Telangana. According to the association, the shortage of funds was preventing hospital managements from carrying out regular maintenance, contributing to a deterioration in infrastructure over the past few years.
The disruption highlights the dependence of public hospitals on both functioning clinical infrastructure and predictable reimbursement flows. At Osmania General Hospital, the immediate impact was visible in non-emergency services, while casualty services continued to attend to patients. The report did not indicate any disruption to emergency care.
The association warned that the agitation could escalate if state health officials did not respond promptly to the grievances. OMC JUDA members said individual junior doctors’ associations at other teaching hospitals could launch indefinite strikes, potentially extending the dispute beyond Osmania General Hospital.
The next step depends on the response from Telangana’s health authorities to the demands for infrastructure improvements, equipment, maintenance funding and settlement of delayed Aarogyasri bills. No specific government intervention or resolution was reported at the time of publication.
