The Bombay High Court has ordered resident doctors in Maharashtra to immediately end their strike, which was protesting the registration of homoeopaths under the Maharashtra Medical Council. The court expressed grave concern over patient safety and warned of wage stoppage, leading the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) to agree to call off the protest.
The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) has launched an indefinite statewide strike, protesting the government's decision to allow homoeopaths to register under the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) and prescribe allopathic medicines after a six-month course.
The doctors called off their five-day strike after Fadnavis on Friday gave an ultimatum to striking resident doctors to resume duty or face legal action.
Talking to reporters, state medical education minister Girish Mahajan said he has asked resident doctors to engage in a dialogue and urged them not to stretch the matter further.
Dr. Roopak Ikhe, an anaesthesiology diploma student, undertook the protest alone.
After getting assurances from top state health as well as civic officials over security arrangements in hospitals, more than 1,700 resident doctors in Maharashtra called off their four-day strike late on Sunday night and resumed work. The resident doctors were on an indefinite strike since Thursday after a few doctors were physically assaulted by patients' relatives at Sion Hospital in Mumbai and CGHS in Aurangabad.
The doctors affiliated to Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors on Friday withdrew their strike following an assurance from the government that their demands would be fulfilled.
The Indian Medical Association rolls back their support but it is not known as yet if the resident doctors too would follow the suit.
The government on Saturday said a committee will be formed to propose safety measures for healthcare professionals even as OPD services were hit across the country as doctors joined the 24-hour nationwide strike called by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to protest the alleged rape and murder of a trainee medic in Kolkata.
According to the Federation of Resident Doctors Association, during the indefinite strike, all outpatient departments, operation theatres, and ward duties will be shut, but emergency services will continue to operate as usual, ensuring that urgent patient care remains unaffected.
Thousands and thousands and thousands of adults owe their lives to the commitment and medical fervour of Dr Armida Fernandez, who a grateful nation honoured with the Padma Shri this year.
Resident doctors are the engines that run hospitals. For the patient, they are the face, hands, and voice of the hospital.
Nearly 4,000 resident doctors in Maharashtra on Thursday went on an indefinite strike demanding suspension of three policemen from Solapur who allegedly attacked their colleague there on December 31.
The strike has been declared illegal under MESMA and the process to deregister the resident doctors with the Mumbai University would be initiated if they do not report to duty within four hours of receiving the notice.
Resident doctors in Maharashtra are yet to resume work despite an appeal by an association representing them to join duty and intervention of the Bombay high court.
Resident Doctors' Association of the AIIMS in Delhi, which earlier decided not to join the strike, announced withdrawal of all non-essential services from noon after a junior doctor at its trauma centre was assaulted in the early hours of Monday.
Acting tough on the striking resident doctors, the Maharashtra government on Saturday terminated 3,148 medicos. "We have issued termination notices to 3,148 resident doctors," said Dr W B Tayade, director of Medical Education. The notices were issued following the failure of talks between the medicos and the health authorities. "We have also written to respective universities to initiate the process of cancellation of the registration of these doctors," Tayade said.
The Bombay high court on Thursday asked striking resident doctors in Maharashtra to resume work immediately while Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis appealed to them to call of the four-day stir, assuring security in hospitals.
Nearly 4,000 doctors have been on strike in various government and municipal hospitals since Monday demanding security at work place in the wake of a string of attacks on their colleagues.
Resident doctors and medical students in Maharashtra called off their six-day-old strike on Sunday after an assurance by the state government to meet their demands, including increasing the number of post-graduate seats."The state government has agreed to meet all our demands and promised to increase the number of seats for post graduation courses within a month," Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors spokesperson Ravikant Singh said.
The doctors will not provide emergency services until all 10 demands are fulfilled.
The doctors have been protesting against some recent incidents, including in Dhule and at the civic-run Sion hospital in Mumbai, where relatives of patients attacked the respective doctors in-charge.
Former AIIMS director Dr S K Kacker discusses the doctors' agitation in Maharashtra and West Bengal's crackdown on private hospitals with Veenu Sandhu.
Resident doctors in Maharashtra Sunday warned of taking their agitation nationwide as the strike by the medicos entered the seventh day.
Making a statement in the legislative assembly, Fadnavis said, "Enough is enough. If the doctors fail to resume work today, government will not sit quietly. We cannot leave the patients to die. I am making a final attempt to break the deadlock today by meeting the doctors' representatives. If no solution is found and doctors don't resume work, they should be prepared to face legal action."
Notwithstanding Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's warning of strict action if work is not resumed, the junior doctors carried on with their agitation.
'Does it make any difference to you, that one of our doctors almost lost his vision, while you delayed in immediately getting the right care for your family member, as per his advice?'
A resident doctor, working at a government hospital, upset by the poor response from the state government, offers his side of the story.
"The provisions of the said bill are nothing short of draconian and promote gross incompetence and mockery of professionals currently working day and night and sacrificing their youth for this broken system," said the protesting doctors.
The massive protest has been called by the All India Government Nurses Federation and the Delhi Nurses Federation seeking redressal of issues related to pay and allowances.
Mamata set 6 conditions for the state government to withdraw their four-day-long stir.
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