Maharashtra doctors continue strike after talks fail to assure action
Resident doctors in Maharashtra said on Wednesday evening that their indefinite strike against the state government’s decision to allow homoeopaths to register under the Maharashtra
Resident doctors in Maharashtra said on Wednesday evening that their indefinite strike against the state government’s decision to allow homoeopaths to register under the Maharashtra Medical Council and prescribe allopathic medicines will continue, after talks with the authorities did not lead to any concrete assurance. The strike has affected outpatient services in government hospitals across the state. Doctors in 32 state-run hospitals joined the agitation from midnight of August 5, along with resident doctors at civic-run hospitals in Mumbai and Thane. Read Full Story While the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) said routine services would remain suspended until further notice, emergency care will continue, including casualty and emergency services, trauma care, ICUs, labour rooms, emergency surgeries, life-saving procedures, emergency laboratory services and blood bank operations. Earlier in the day, a delegation of Central MARD, along with representatives of BMC MARD, met the Joint Secretary of the Medical Education Department, the Director of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research, and the Registrar of the Maharashtra Medical Council.
“During the meeting, the government acknowledged the issues raised by Central MARD and took serious cognisance of the statewide agitation. The delegation was informed that the concerns presented by Central MARD will be placed before the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and sincere efforts will be made to arrive at a positive and decisive resolution in the coming days. The Government also stated that certain issues are presently sub judice and are therefore being examined within the applicable legal framework,” MARD said. However, the association said no concrete assurance was conveyed during the meeting on its key demands and it therefore decided to continue the indefinite agitation on August 6. Central MARD president Atharva Shinde said resident doctors pursuing MD, MS and DNB courses across government medical colleges and hospitals would withdraw all routine clinical, academic and non-life-saving emergency services. The suspended services include routine OPD, IPD services and ward rounds, elective surgeries, procedures, academic activities, central laboratory services and fever OPD. The Maharashtra Medical Council on June 30 issued a notification allowing homoeopaths to prescribe modern medicines after completing a si month Certificate Course in Modern Pharmacology.
MARD has demanded immediate suspension of the BHMS-CCMP registration process until the final court verdict. Shinde said the strike was observed in 32 medical colleges across the state as well as those run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. “Our opposition is to the law. There should be no cross-pathy and mixopathy. The Maharashtra government should prioritise services to patients. If they (homoeopaths) have pursued education of 5.5 years (of homeopathy) and get allopathy licence after simply doing a course...it is akin to giving a person a firearm licence and allow him to use weapons indiscriminately,” he added. At Mumbai’s JJ Hospital and Grant Medical College, doctors staged protests on the premises and raised slogans against the government’s decision. Sanjay Surase, medical superintendent of the state-run JJ Hospital, said services remained unaffected because a parallel system was in place. In Nagpur, resident doctors skipped OPD work at Government Medical College and Research Hospital and Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital, and held demonstrations on hospital premises with placards and banners.
The BriefWire