The state government has formed a committee for reviewing the measures to be adopted to prevent doctor strikes in the future and also suggest changes in the Maharashtra Essential Service and Maintenance Act (MESMA), which would ensure that doctors are prohibited from going on strike.
Advocate A Vagyani, appearing for the government on Wednesday, filed an affidavit informing that a team of doctors from the state will visit AIIMS in Delhi on August 11 to study and examine the measures adopted by it to prevent doctors from going on strike.
The affidavit also stated that 230 people died in the state between July 1 and 7. However, it was clarified that they died due to serious ailments and not due to doctors' non-attendance.
A division bench of justices Naresh Patil and RV Ghughe was hearing a public interest litigation filed by advocate Gunaratna Sadavarte against the strike, when it was apprised of these developments. The bench came down heavily on the state for terminating doctors on contract and not taking action against those attached to Maharashtra Association of Gazetted Medical Officers (MAGMO), which had called the strike. Sadavarte wants the court to direct the government to invoke the MESMA against the striking doctors.
The court said, "You (state) are dealing with the strike only when they go on it. MAGMO is the one who went on the illegal strike but now you are being the villain. Here the solution is worse than the disease."
Soon after the strike was called, the state had terminated the services of 600 contract doctors who had extended support to MAGMO. It had gone on strike seeking implementation of the sixth pay commission for its doctor members. The state, after their termination, interviewed new doctors but the high court has stayed their appointment until further order on the plea of the contract doctors who have challenged their termination.
The court also came down on MAGMO and said, "How will you justify that you remained absent from duty? Who will take care of the patients in civil hospitals? They are the poorest of poor who cannot afford private hospitals and doctors' fees. You are justified in your demand but the question is (the) method adopted to press for it."
The state was also rapped for provoking agitations. The bench said, "We have cultivated the culture that unless you are not on the street, the problem will not be solved. This is wrong governance."
The court will continue its hearing on Thursday; it has directed the state to reply on what it plans to do about the terminated doctors as there is a vacuum after HC stayed the appointment of new doctors on contract.
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