Junior Doctors Call Off Stir After High Court Intervention
The court appreciated the junior doctors for calling off the strike and said they had taken the right decision
VIJAYAWADA: Junior doctors called off their strike on Tuesday following the intervention of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, which directed them to resume duties immediately and asked the state government to resolve their reasonable demands within two weeks.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Lisa Gill and Justice Chall Gunaranjan heard for the second day a PIL filed by social activist Guduri Venkata Ratna Kumar.
Petitioner’s counsel Yaragorla Tagore Yadav submitted that junior doctors had stopped attending even emergency healthcare services from August 17, causing hardship to patients in government hospitals. He referred to National Medical Commission norms stating that absence from duty for two consecutive days could be treated as serious indiscipline and could result in debarment and cancellation of registration.
The court appreciated the junior doctors for calling off the strike and said they had taken the right decision. It observed that while doctors had the right to express their protest, abstaining from work was unacceptable as it affected patients and could put their lives at risk. The court advised them to adopt alternative ways of expressing their demands without disrupting healthcare services.
Advocate-General Dammalapati Srinivas said the state government had constituted a committee to hold talks with the junior doctors on their demand for a stipend hike. He said the government had agreed to a 10 per cent hike for house surgeons and three per cent for PG resident doctors and those pursuing super-speciality courses. The junior doctors were seeking a minimum 15 per cent hike, he said.
Junior doctors’ counsel Bhima Maharshi Reddy said the doctors had submitted several representations to the government seeking a stipend hike and other demands, but received no proper response, forcing them to strike.
After hearing both sides, the court directed the junior doctors to report to duty immediately and said it would issue further directions if they failed to do so. It asked the doctors to respond by afternoon and directed the state government to resolve their reasonable demands within two weeks.
