Acting tough on the striking resident doctors, the Maharashtra government on Saturday terminated 3,148 medicos.
"We have issued termination notices to 3,148 resident doctors," said Dr W B Tayade, director of Medical Education. The notices were issued following the failure of talks between the medicos and the health authorities. "We have also written to respective universities to initiate the process of cancellation of the registration of these doctors," Tayade said.
Some resident doctors in Akola, Dhule, Latur, Kolhapur and Nagpur did not participate in the strike, Tayade said. The stern action came on the fifth day of the doctors' indefinite strike, to demand enhancement of stipend and better living conditions.
After giving show-cause notices to more than 2,500 striking resident doctors on Friday, the state government set a deadline of 2 pm on Saturday for the doctors to return to work. As they did not turn up, the deadline was extended by a few hours and since there were no signs of relentment, the authorities cracked the whip and terminated their services.
The government had appealed to the medicos to join their duties with immediate effect to serve thousands of needy patients, who had to return without proper medical care, and also to tackle the possible spurt of monsoon-related diseases in the state.
Meanwhile, in Yavatmal, the striking medicos have opened an Out Patient's Department booth outside the Government Medical College to ensure medical care to the poor and needy patients coming from remote areas. The hospital is being run with the help of lecturers, assistant professors and professors.
The Bombay High Court bench at Nagpur had on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to place on record the action it planned to take against the striking doctors. Supporting the resident doctors' demands, several senior doctors said the stipend should definitely be increased to a decent amount.
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