Doctors demands arms licence

BHOPAL: Members of the Junior Doctors Association (JUDA) in Madhya Pradesh's Indore district have demanded arms licence so that they are able to protect themselves from the wrath of patients and their relatives.

They are on a strike for the past nine days, demanding immediate implementation of the Doctors Protection Act. Several meetings with the authorities, including the state Health Minister Ajay Vishnoi, have failed to yield any result.

JUDA's Indore unit is demanding the immediate implementation of the act and its members have been on strike since May 20. During this period, junior doctors of other medical colleges, including at Gwalior, Jabalpur, Rewa and Bhopal, have also observed token protests to express solidarity with their Indore counterparts.

The junior doctors in Indore Wednesday demanded arms licences during a meeting with Indore's Additional District Magistrate Ramesh Bhandari.

"Though Bhandari assured them of full protection, the junior doctors were not satisfied and said they be provided permission to keep their own arms for their protection. Soon 60 of them submitted applications requesting the administration to grant them licence for keeping arms," a junior doctor in Bhopal said.