“Whether the Gods could go on strike? When doctors, who are considered and treated as Gods by the people, are striking their duty, definitely it would mean that Gods are striking,” the Madras High Court said on Thursday and restrained postgraduate medical students of Rajah Muthiah Medical College and Hospital (RMMCH) at Chidambaram in Cuddalore district from striking work pressing their demand to charge fees on par with government medical colleges and not more.
Justice N. Kirubakaran passed the interim order on a writ petition filed by a taxi driver Raju who claimed that his wife suffering from labour pain could not be admitted to RMMCH, which charges the patients nominally, on September 18 since the doctors were on strike. If “even the educated elite members of the society indulge in this kind of unwanted action (strike work), what would happen to the common people whenever they face any problem?” the judge wondered.
Precedent cited
Pointing out that RMMCH was a part of Annamalai University which was taken over by the State Government due to complaints of mismanagement, the judge recalled that a Division Bench of the High Court had on September 26 last year held that the university could not be treated as a government institution and that it was empowered to fix and demand fees as prescribed by its Senate. The judgement was delivered in a case filed by the undergraduate students of the medical college.
Subsequently, the matter was taken on appeal and it was still pending before the Supreme Court without any stay on the High Court order. During the hearing of the case on September 18, the university counsel informed the apex court about the strike by post-graduate students. “Therefore, this court taking into consideration the problems suffered by the public, in view of the strike undertaken by the post- graduate medical students, is inclined to take up the issue,” Mr. Justice Kirubakaran said and went on to state: “The PG students, who are already registered doctors... cannot conduct themselves as ordinary labourers or workers by indulging in strike and refusing to treat the ailing patients at the hospital which treats patients at an affordable cost.”
Pointing out that out of 211 post graduate students of RMMCH, 151 were in-service candidates who were treated as a government servants and sponsored by the State for pursuing their courses and the rest of the 60 were also paid a stipend of ₹25,000 every month, the judge said that these students “cannot refuse to treat the poor patients and restrain others also from discharging their duties.”