‘Docs must resume work by 8am today’

The Bombay high court on Friday granted a day more to the agitating resident doctors to resume duties, and granted them time till 8am on Saturday.

The short reprieve, however, came with a warning that if the resident doctors fail to report to duty by then, the court will allow the respective hospital managements to take action against erring doctors.

“Let the public come and beat them up,” said the division bench of chief justice Manjula Chellur and justice Girish Kulkarni.

“When the public reacts, they (the agitating resident doctors) will have to face the consequences,” the bench added, while expressing displeasure over the fact that despite assurances by

the president and the secretary of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), most of the resident doctors continued to remain absent on Friday.

The court was hearing a PIL by RTI activist Afak Mandviya, who complained about how the

strike by resident doctors was harming thousands of poor patients across the state.

The bench, however, granted one more day to the agitating doctors, after MARD president Dr Yashovardhan Kabra and secretary Dr Swapnil Meshram

filed an affidavit disclosing the steps taken by them to persuade the doctors to resume duties immediately and a statement that they will not have any objection if action is taken against the doctors for further continuing to remain absent.