Mumbai: The Resident Doctors of Maharashtra have decided to call off their indefinite strike on Saturday on the assurance of the state government that their demands would be met within a fortnight.
“We had a late night meeting with State Medical Education Minister Jitendra Awhad and he assured us that the government is ready to accept all our demands within 15 days. Hence, we have agreed to call off our strike for now,” said Santosh Wakchaure, President of the Medical Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), Â
Around 4,000 resident doctors across the state on Friday had decided to go on an indefinite strike from Saturday to protest against state government’s “failure” to fulfil their long pending demands. Wakchaure said though doctors have called off the strike, they “will not hesitate” to review their decision if their demands are not met within the stipulated time period.
Wakchaure said the state government should ensure that proper bond service strategies are implemented. “We want proper work schedule for doctors. We also want the government to provide speciality service mechanisms in government hospitals so that every patient can be treated,” he added.
The association also demanded that senior resident posts should be created for non-clinical and para-clinical branches and they should be considered in the bonded service.
“We have also demanded a special medical officer post for all branches and people from the Other Backward Class (OBC), Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) should be given treatment free of cost,” Wakchaure said.
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