In Pictures | As doctors in Maharashtra strike, patients suffer
Expressing solidarity with the residents doctors of Maharashtra, who are on strike demanding better security, around 40,000 doctors in the national capital have decided to go on mass leave in protest against the attack on a doctor at Sion Hospital in Mumbai.
Nearly 4,000 resident doctors have been striking since Monday, demanding enhanced security in the wake of a string of attacks on doctors by patients' relatives at government hospitals across the state.
The protests have been hampering the services of Out-Patient Departments (OPDs) in various hospitals.
On Wednesday night, a woman doctor of the civic-run Sion hospital here was allegedly beaten up by the relatives of a patient, which made the stand of the protesting medicos more aggressive.
The civic-run KEM Hospital in Mumbai has started issuing suspension notices to the doctors who did not report to duty despite state Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan asking them to resume work.
Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the resident doctors, who are abstaining from duty in various hospitals across Maharashtra for the last four days, to resume work immediately.The high court said the issues and demands of the doctors can be amicably resolved with the state government. The court also directed the government and the management of various hospitals not to take any punitive action against the doctors who were served notice yesterday for not resuming their duties.
(With Agency Inputs)