Despite the stern warning by High Court and the Telangana Government, there was no end in sight to the indefinite strike by more than 3,000 junior doctors in Telangana.
Junior doctors have been on strike for the last 31 days, hampering the functioning of Government hospitals demanding the repeal of a rule which requires the medical students to compulsorily work in rural areas for at least one year at the completion of their course.Telangana Junior Doctors’ Association (TJUDA) has decided to continue the strike despite a two judge bench of the High Court directed the doctors to end the strike and resume their duties.
When the matter again came up on Wednesday, the bench comprising of Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and PV Sanjay Kumar expressed their strong disapproval and asked the counsel whether the junior doctors were ready to face the action in accordance with the law. The bench made it clear that the court will not hear the grievances of the junior doctors till they end the strike.
Court adjourned further hearing of the matter till Thursday and urged the doctors to introspect their behavior towards the patients coming to the Government hospitals. The court also asked the counsel for the TJUDA to clarify under which rule they had gone on indefinite strike.The counsel contended that the strike has not been causing any problems to the patients and the junior doctors have been forced to go on an indefinite strike only after their talks with the Government failed because of the unreasonable stand taken by the latter.
The TJUDA has laid the condition that the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao should meet them and give a personal assurance that their demands will be fulfilled. But the Chief Minister has hardened his stand and refused to meet the striking doctors.State Health Minister and deputy Chief Minister T Rajaiah said, “The State Government has already accepted all the demands of the junior doctors.” He warned that the State Government will debar the striking junior doctors for six months if they don’t end the strike.Apart from continuing their strike, six junior doctors have also gone an indefinite fast and others have been staging a sit-in protest at Indira Park in Hyderabad.