``The environment of fear is such that I wonder how many businessmen and doctors would want to attend Munde's Jan Adalat and expose themselves to gangsters?'' said a doctor who has stopped new admissions to his hospital.

The recent spate of attacks on doctors in the araa has had a direct fallout on the state of healthcare. Investigation revealed that at least eight doctors have shut their nursing homes and gone underground after receiving calls from the underworld for protection money. ``These goons are referring to bed occupancy in hospitals while making their demands. We have now stopped taking new patients,'' said Surendra Anklikar, a leading surgeon.

Also, almost all the doctors, and some businessmen too, have switched off their phones - both the land lines and mobiles - in a bid to keep the extortionists at bay. Naturally, thefirst casualty is the patient. ``My pregnant daughter developed pains a week before her due date and I tried to call up our gynaecologist,'' pointed out Anjali Vaidya (45). When nobody answered the phone she took her daughter to the hospital only to be told that the doctor was out of station. She has since called her old aunt from Indapur near Pune who has some experience in traditional midwifery to help conduct the delivery at home if the need arose. Madhu Nair, a collegian from Rambaug, had to seek a doctor in distant Thane merely to get a plaster cast for a fracture. ``It's bad getting in and out of trains on the central railway any way, you can imagine my plight,'' he said.

Doctors claim they are helpless. ``My family has been worried ever since I began getting blank calls four days ago...I thought shutting off the phone would be the best thing to do,'' said Samir Gavit, a gynaecologist. His old mother's blood pressure has shot up due to anxiety and he is under increasing pressure from his family toleave the town for a few days.

With the scare spreading and more and more doctors refusing patients the civic health system has suddenly come under tremendous strain. The civic administration here leans heavily on private practitioners as was evident during both the jaundice and the gastro epidemic. There are only two civic hospitals here and these are just slightly better than a primary health centre. ``It is true that we're being swamped with patients who would've otherwise sought treatment elsewhere,'' admitted KDMC Chief Medical Officer Dr M D Kulkarni. While appreciating the hardships the patients and their families were having to face he added, ``We are doing our best but we have to still refer many cases to the already crowded Ulhasnagar Central Hospital or the LTMG Hospital, Sion.''

Another indicator of the extent of panic is the sudden surge in demand for caller identity units (CIUs). Deepak Advani of Ulhasnagar who deals in the same revealed that over 90 per cent of the enquiries were comingfrom Kalyan and Dombivli. ``Over 50 per cent of them are doctors,'' he revealed. Doctors too confirmed this, but expressed their dissatisfaction over the inordinate delays in getting the Kalyan Telecom District (KTD) to get the facility started. ``In light of the current atmosphere at least the KTD should not make us suffer,'' complained another general practitioner who has bought the CIU but cannot use it without a go-ahead from the KTD. The GM of the KTD S Nithiyanantham when apprised of the situation said that he would immediately pass orders in this regard. The fear of underworld is so deep-rooted that despite Munde promising that doctors' demand for protection would be met immediately, very few have approached the police. A few doctors Express Newsline spoke to said they had little trust in the police.

``Do you think anyone would feel comfortable about going to the police after the well-publicised nabbing of Sunil Balid?'' asked senior pediatrician Ravi Patil. Balid, a constable attached to thepolice control room at Mahatma Phule police station, was suspended after it was established that he was supplying information to the Manchekar gang about both police movements and about potential extortion targets.

Doctors' names have been changed to protect identities