The strike called by All-India Institute of Medical Science doctors in protest against the passage of a bill restricting the retirement age of its director at 65 years saw muted response with the medicos backing institution head P Venugopal abstaining from work while those opposing him attending OPD and other services.

By and large, the OPDs functioned normally with only some doctors who want the present director to continue in office staying away from work. The AIIMS administration led by medical superintendent D K Sharma had, following the Supreme Court orders, asked the resident doctors to refrain from striking work.

"All OPDs are functioning normally. There is no problem at all. I am supervising the OPDs operations,'' Sharma said, adding ''a few doctors have boycotted (the OPDs).''

The strike was called by Resident Doctors Association when the AIIMS bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha amid wide protests from Opposition benches.

Anil Sharma, general secretary, RDA, AIIMS, said, "We have boycotted the OPDs and the future course of action will be decided at a GoM later today.''

The bill seeks to restrict the age of the AIIMS director at 65 years. The move may pave the way for removal of Venugopal from the post. Union Health Minister A Ramdoss has been in the last two-and-a-half years locked in a turf war with Venugopal.

Shakti Kumar Gupta said that all the centres in the hospital were functioning normally. ''The Director has appealed to all faculty members, resident doctors, nurses, officers and all the staff to continue their work and activities including teaching and research," he said, adding the functioning of OPDs has not been affected.