The junior doctors in the state continued their strike for the third day on Friday, paralysing the health services at all government medical colleges and hospitals demanding an increase in stipend. The state government has decided to penalize the junior doctors for going on strike without prior notice.
The junior doctors in the state continued their strike for the third day on Friday, paralysing the health services at all government medical colleges and hospitals demanding an increase in stipend. The state government has decided to penalize the junior doctors for going on strike without prior notice.
They complained that their demands have not been met for the last three years.
Health department’s additional secretary Kaushal Kishore on Friday instructed the superintendents and principals of the government medical colleges and hospitals to take action against the junior doctors and postgraduate students on strike by deducting their stipends under ‘no-work, no-pay’ rule for the period of their absence from work.
The order also asked the authorities to initiate legal action against the junior doctors who were involved in obstructing essential services like emergency and outdoor patient departments (OPD) services.
The additional secretary said colleges should immediately call the disciplinary committee meetings and take decision accordingly. The superintendents and principals have also been asked to submit a daily status report about examined and admitted patients through OPDs, the number of patients examined in emergency and admitted through emergency wards, and the number of operations conducted.
PMCH principal Dr Vidyapati Choudhary said the emergency services remain uninterrupted while the other services like general operation theatre and OPDs were hit due to the ongoing strike. “Around 140 registrations were done in an emergency while 57 patients are admitted in the emergency unit. The senior residents, interns, and assistant professors, including surgeons, are working round-the-clock,” he said.
Junior Doctors’ Association president Dr Harendra Kumar said they will not end the strike till their demands were fulfilled. “We have not got any assurance from the state government about the hike in our stipend. The principal secretary visited the PMCH on Thursday, but did not interact with us,” he said.
NMCH superintendent Dr Dr Binod Kumar Singh said they tried to talk to the junior doctors, but they were not ready to listen. “The patient outflow was low on Friday due to Christmas. However, no patient returned without treatment. I inspected different departments to ensure that no patients faced any problem because of the strike. I have increased the number of physicians on duty from one to two in each department to ensure that the health services remained unaffected,” Dr Singh said.
Stay updated with all the Latest Patna headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.
