Will post 1,100 guards across state by Apr 30: Govt to HC
After four days of protests, the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) assured the Bombay high court on Thursday it will appeal to its members to get back to work during the course of the day.
MARD’S assurance came after Advocate General Rohit Deo told a bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and justice Girish Kulkarni the government will post 1,100 armed guards of the Maharashtra State Security Corporation for protection of doctors at government and civic hospitals across Maharashtra. Deo told the court the first batch of 500 armed guards will be deployed across Mumbai hospitals by April 5, the remaining will be posted at hospitals across the state by April 30.
At the time of going to press, MARD said it had called off the protests and urged resident doctors to get back to work. For the past week, across the state, resident doctors — all of whom are members of MARD — have been protesting against the spate of by patients’ families.
During Thursday’s hearing, the high court restrained the state from taking punitive steps against resident doctors, but limited the relief only to those who resumed duties immediately.
The court was hearing a PIL by RTI activist Afak Mandviya, who said repeated strikes by resident doctors harmed thousands of poor patients. During the hearing, Deo told the court three rounds of meetings were held between the health minister and representatives of MARD on atives promised the minister they will resume duties on Thursday. “Your profession is so noble, you cannot afford to go on strike,” the bench said and added that all other issues can be taken care of and amicably resolved. The court reminded the doctors they cannot resort to tactics resorted to by “ordinary factory workers”. The judges, however, sympathised with the doctors and said the strike could possibly be because of “sustained frustration.” There is a need to implementtheruleof“onepatient two