Bihar: Junior Doctors of Govt Hospitals, Medical Colleges go on Indefinite Strike

Patna: Hundreds of junior doctors of nine government-run medical colleges and hospitals in Bihar went on indefinite strike from Monday in support of their five-point demands, including an increase in monthly stipend.

The striking junior doctors association president Dr Kundan Suman said the other four demands are recruitment of additional doctors in medical colleges and hospitals, withdrawal of the provision to work for a year in medical colleges for post-graduate doctors, and appointment of non- academic junior resident doctors by the state government.

Some of the striking junior doctors and MBBS interns from Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) and eight other medical colleges, said: “We have decided to boycott work in the outdoor patient department (OPD), emergency and surgery to put pressure on the government to fulfil our demands”.

The peaceful strike by junior doctors at PMCH and Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH), both in Patna, disrupted health services.as also in Darbhanga Medical College Hospital,Sri Krishna Medical College Hospital  in Muzaffarpur, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital in Bhagalpur, the Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College in Gaya.

Notably, MBBS interns in Bihar get a monthly stipend of Rs 15,000, which they claim is the lowest in India, and want it raised to Rs 24,000.”The health department in 2017 issued a letter that said our stipend will be revised every three years, but nothing happened so far,” they said.

Dr Suman said “we had gone on strike last year, as well as in October this year, but ended the strike following assurances from the  government. Our demands were never fulfilled and forced us to strike again.”

He said as the threat of the third wave of COVID looms, recruitment of more doctors is a must as it will help reduce the workload on doctors more patients can be provided treatment.

According to reports reaching here the state health department has directed officials of medical colleges and hospitals and district officials concerned to manage the situation, as the strike has affected health services, including OPD and emergency services.

However, the striking doctors are determined to continue the strike until their demands are fulfilled. “There is no question of ending the strike as the government has not shown any interest to resolve the issue, ” said Dr. Suman .

The Junior Doctors’ Association has said that they would end the strike only after a written assurance is given by the government to fulfil their demand. “We will not withdraw the strike on mere verbal assurance from the government as it was done in October when we resume duty”. In view of the rising COVID 19 cases in the state, some senior doctors were available for COVID-19 patients in hospitals, officials said.