Dr Shirish Rao is a House Officer in the Department of Surgery at a secondary care hospital in Mumbai and a researcher at the Association for Socially Applicable Research (ASAR). His research and advocacy focus on surgical care, chronic pain, medical education, workforce, service delivery, and policy.
Most government hospital OPDs in urban areas are closing early, pushing patients into already overcrowded casualty departments. How is this system failing the very people it's meant to serve, and what can be done to fix it?