Bengaluru: Hundreds of private hospitals, nursing homes and clinics in Karnataka suspended outpatient services on Monday following a call by the Indian Medical Association to hold a day-long strike in solidarity with the doctors sitting on a protest in West Bengal.

The strike had a telling effect as people were seen struggling to get medical aid in private hospitals.

However, the government hospitals remained open as usual following a circular by the Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare.

Health department sources said there was heavy rush at government hospitals since morning.

The IMA did not heed to state Health Minister S S Patil's appeal to keep the strike symbolic and not cause much trouble to people.

"Almost all private hospitals and clinics have shut their OPD services. Emergency and pregnancy cases were taken up," Karnataka IMA president N Dhanpal told PTI.

Prominent hospitals in Bengaluru which joined the strike were Apollo Hospitals, St John's Hospital, Narayana Hrudayalaya and Sagar Hospital, Dhanpal added.

Suresh Shastry, joint director, Health and Family Welfare Department, said the strike had no effect on government hospitals.

Junior doctors in West Bengal are on strike since June 11 after two of their colleagues were attacked and seriously injured allegedly by relatives of a patient who died at the NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

In a show of solidarity with their counterparts in Bengal, medical practitioners across the country have chosen to keep away from work.

All the private hospitals and medical colleges in Dakshina Kannada have also endorsed the strike and have called off OPD services. Emergency and pregnancy cases were being taken.

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Patna (PTI): The body of a Bihar Police personnel was found hanging from the ceiling of a room in his barracks here, a senior officer said on Sunday.

Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Kartikeya Sharma said a havildar with Bihar State Armed Police-1, popularly known as "Gorkha battalion", died allegedly by suicide as he had been suffering from some ailment.

The deceased left behind "two suicide notes", one in Hindi and the other in his native language Nepali.

"From the suicide notes, it appears that Navraj Sunar, the deceased havildar, had been suffering from some ailment which had caused him much mental anguish and may have driven him to take the extreme step," the SSP said.

The body was being sent to the native village of the deceased in Nepal after a post-mortem examination, while further investigations were on, with forensic experts inspecting the site of the incident.