More than 4,000 post-graduate doctors from 18 medical colleges across Maharashtra went on a strike today demanding transfer of two senior doctors from the state-run JJ Hospital in Mumbai.
The Directorate of Medical Education, meanwhile, has recommended that government should invoke Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA) to thwart the strike.
Since last one week, doctors have been demanding transfer of JJ Hospital’s Dean and noted eye surgeon Dr. TP Lahane and his deputy Dr. Ragini Parekh, head of the Ophthalmology department.
A senior officer-bearer from the central wing of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) said that they will be attending to patients under emergency services, but Out-Patient Departments (OPDs) have been shut in all public medical colleges from 8 am today. He said that they will continue the protest till the state government transfers Lahane and Parekh as they are harassing students and not fit for their posts.
However, state Directorate of Medical Education and Research Head Dr Pravin Shingare rejected the argument of the striking doctors and said that MESMA has been invoked in the past in so many cases against those who were not state government staff but used to render their services to residents of the state. He said that Government can declare that these services and its providers are under the MESMA.