Sting goes out of strike
Minister assures security, many doctors resume duty by the evening
The split within the doctors who have struck work for the past two days alleging the government’s apathy towards instances of attacks on them is clearly showing. In many government-run hospitals across the state on Wednesday, the state came down heavily on the striking docs by slapping showcase notices on them and even suspending over a thousand resident doctors.
In the evening, even as some doctors were returning to work, there was another flashpoint at the government-run Sion Hospital. The mother of a kid who had come for treatment allegedly hit a resident doctor, Dr Mansi Patil, on the hand. There were at least five relatives of the kid present there. Doctors on duty immediately struck work and sat on the road outside the hospital.
In the morning, health education minister Girish Mahajan held talks with representatives of resident doctors and assured them of security in hospitals. He also took a hard stand, asking the doctors to return to work by 8 pm or face penal measures. In the evening the minister extended this deadline to Thursday morning.
The minister even announced a string of measures for the doctors’ security. He said 1,100 security guards will be posted at the governmentrun hospitals within 15 days. All the guards will be in the 2025 years age group. The guards will be given special training to make them on par with guards in private hospitals. CCTVs will also be installed and to implement all these security detail, he finance department has approved a sum of Rs 33 crore.
But the doctors continued to build pressure on the government. On Wednesday, the Indian Medical Association (IMA), a body of 45,000 doctors in Maharashtra, came out in support of the striking doctors. Dr Parthiv Sanghvi, secretary of the IMA, told reporters, “We support the resident doctors and the strike will be continue till our demands are met,” adding, “The government does not want to look into the security issues of the doctors. Instead of providing them security they are now issuing termination and suspension notices. We strongly condemn such notices and we urge the government to withdraw these letters.”
The Maharashtra doctors, meanwhile, also received support to their case from their colleagues in Delhi. “We have decided to go on mass leave on March 23 between 9 am to 4 pm. Only emergency duty will be performed by resident doctors. This step is being taken in view of increasing number of assaults on doctors and showing solidarity towards our colleagues from Maharashtra. And we condemn the action taken by the Govt of Maharashtra against resident doctors there,” a press release issued by an association of Delhi doctors said.
The IMA has cautioned resident doctors not to sign any papers or speak to bureaucrats in the health department on the issue.
But despite such directives, resident doctors in many hospitals have been joing duty by Wednesday evening. The Dean of Sir Jamshedji Jeejibhoy Hospital confirmed that resident doctors of his hospital had begun to resume duty around the 8 pm, the deadline set by the health minister.
On the third consecutive day health services were severely affected due to the ongoing strike by resident doctors across the state. Despite the Bombay High Court order demanding that the striking lawyers resume by Wednesday morning, the resident doctors of government and municipal - run hospitals have continued with their mass leave until their demands are fulfilled.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) from Maharashtra too has gone on an indefinite strike. The IMA has come out in support of the resident doctors after the show cause notice was issued to 1,200 striking doctors from different hospitals. These notices were issued to 500 RDs from King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital, 350 RDs from Lokmanya Tilak General Municipal hospital (SION) and 350 RDs from Sir Jamshedji Jeejeebhoy (JJ) hospital. Dr. Parthiv Sanghvi, Secretary of the Indian Medical Association (Mumbai) said, “They will continue with the strike if the terminations and suspension orders of the doctors are not withdrawn.” While addressing the media, Dr Sanghvi, said, “All the Out Patient Departments (OPDs) of the hospital will be closed all over the state and all the planned operation will also be cancelled. The patient with extreme emergency cases will only be operated and other emergency services will stand withdrawn.”
Girish Mahajan, State Medical Education Minister, had given the last ultimatum to the resident doctors to resume the work by 8 pm on Wednesday otherwise their six months’ salary will be deducted if they do not resume the work. “The resident doctors should report to duty by today evening or they will lose their salary for six months. The students of post graduate courses who are serving as resident doctors will also face the action and we have all the legal provisions to take such steps,” said Mahajan.
“We assured them of deploying 1100 security personnel by April 1, but the resident doctors are not convinced by it,” added Mahajan.
One of the resident doctors said, “We are not afraid of any legal action taken against us and we are not going to resume to our jobs until our demands are fulfilled.”
Meanwhile in Pune, Doctors at Sassoon Hospital say that they have not called off strike. But management at B J medical College has given one hours time to submit our demands. So after an hour latest details will be understood.