The lawyer representing the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors on Friday assured the Bombay High Court that protesting doctors will resume their duties by 8 am on Saturday. MARD has disassociated itself from the strike and said in its affidavit that it will not object to any action taken against agitating doctors, ANI reported.
The Indian Medical Association, which had been supporting the doctors’ protests in Mumbai, has also called off the strike following the high court’s orders.
This was in response to the Bombay High Court reprimanding MARD for not complying with its orders to resume work, ANI reported. Despite calling off their strike on Thursday following orders from the high court, not many doctors turned up for work on Friday. The bench had warned the agitating doctors of punitive if they did not comply with their order again.
The court had asked the association to file an affidavit stating they had no objection to the government taking action against those doctors who participated in the strike. The high court had said it would initiate contempt proceedings against the MARD president and its secretary if the affidavit was not filed by 3 pm on Friday.
During the hearing on Friday, the lawyer representing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said 38 patients had died in Mumbai’s Sion Hospital on Thursday. Representatives of the doctors’ association also met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss security arrangements for the doctors.
Speaking in the Maharashtra Assembly, Fadnavis pointed out that it seemed as though the doctors had forgotten their oath. “Enough is enough...If doctors are continuing the strike leaving patients to die, it shows high degree of insensitivity,” he said, according to NDTV. He added that he was ready to appeal to them to return to work one last time. “After this it will be strict action” and they will show no mercy shown to those leaving their patients to die.
Fadnavis said 700 additional security personnel had been deployed for ensure doctors’ safety, and CCTV cameras will soon be installed at the hospitals, as well. “Strict action against individuals who attack doctors has been initiated,” he said.
Hundreds of doctors in Maharashtra were expected to return to work on Friday after going on “mass leave” for four days in protest against attacks on them by patients’ relatives. The doctors association on Thursday night had asked the doctors to call off their strike. The association referred to an order by the Bombay High Court, which asked the doctors to resume work but also pushed authorities to provide them the protections they were seeking.
The high court’s Thursday order came while it was hearing a public interest litigation filed by one Afak Mandiya complaining that health services were affected in the state because of frequent strikes by doctors. The high court told the doctors to resume work as medical emergencies cannot wait. Advocate General Rohit Deo informed the court that the Fadnavis-led government had decided to deploy more than 1,000 armed guards at civic and government hospitals across the state. At least 500 of them will be posted in Mumbai by April 5.
More than 4,000 resident doctors had gone on strike on Monday. The protests started after two new cases were reported from Wadia Maternity Hospital in Parel, Mumbai, and Aurangabad, where doctors were assaulted by the relatives of some patients. The protesting doctors have claimed that there have been at least 45 such cases in the past three years.
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