Doctors
No Compromise in Sight for Maharashtra Resident Doctors Strike
By IANS
Mar 8, 2006, 19:10

With neither the Maharashtra government nor doctors striking a note of compromise, the medicos strike entered its 10th day Wednesday, leaving thousands of needy patients in distress.

The Maharashtra doctors' strike, which began after relatives of a patient allegedly manhandled a physician at a city hospital late last month, could take on a nationwide character with the Indian Medical Association threatening to join the strike.

The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) Wednesday claimed that 43 organisations including the IMA, the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd Employees' Union and Bombay Students' Association have pledged support to the strike.

"We will form a human chain in protest at the Azad Maidan in south Mumbai today (Wednesday). We want to keep the protest totally peaceful," MARD joint secretary Bharat Jigiasi told IANS.

"They (government) have shown no interest at all. Forget about a compromise, they are not even bothered to listen to our woes," Jigiasi said.

Around 7,500 Maharashtra doctors have joined the strike, badly crippling the medical system in the state. The government is making do with a handful of employees.

Resident doctors on a peaceful candle march

The striking doctors want the implementation of the Central Parity Scheme espoused by the Medical Council of India that outlines certain tenets of the profession like the doctor-patient ratio, living and working conditions of the doctors and work hours.

The doctors are looking for a written agreement this time as they claim they have been given verbal promises several times in the past, all of them ending up as non-starters.

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