Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday again voiced its concern over the ongoing strike by junior doctors and expressed its displeasure on their decision to continue the strike despite their advice.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar was dealing with a PIL by Ravi-kiran Swamy seeking to declare the strike illegal.
While commencing the hearing, the Chief Justice enquired with the senior counsel appearing for the junior doctors whether th-ey called off their strike or not.
The counsel submitted that junior doctors have decided to continue their agitation till their dema-nds are met.
According to information, 3,000 junior doctors are on strike in Telangana state.
Reacting to it, Justice Sengupta asked the counsel under which provision of law are they allowed to go on strike and if there is anything mentioned in the law that keep junior doctors away from discharging their duties.
The counsel submitted that the junior doctors are prepared to serve in the rural areas, but the government has not provided proper ‘special’ training to them to serve the rural people.
Defending the strike, he said the junior doctors are on strike seeking better facilities in government hospitals as most of them in the state lack basic facilities.
“Serving as junior doctors is a part of the study and there is no employee and employer relation involved in it. Under such circumstances and under what authority did they opt to go on strike?” the bench asked.
The Chief Justice said, “We thought of doing justice in this case, but the junior doctors have adopted a one-way approach instead of equitable approach. The court will not allow the strike to go on at the cost of the lives of poor patients and the junior doctors do not have mercy even on poor patients. The law will take its own course.”
The next hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
