PM disheartened by doctors' response, Govt to restore normalcy

New Delhi, May 30 (UNI) Adopting a tough stand on the ongoing doctors' agitation on reservation issue, Health Minister Ambumoni Ramdoss today said that government would take all action to restore normalcy in hospitals.

Dr Ramdoss, who returned from Geneva this morning, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the afternoon to discuss the situation arising from the doctors' agitation over the proposed 27 per cent reservation for OBC in higher educational institutions.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Dr Ramdoss said that the Prime Minister was ''disheartened'' at the response of the agitating doctors who rejected his appeal.

He said despite the government making all efforts including talks of the Prime Minister with the agitating doctors, they have not seen reason. Now even the courts have asked the agitating doctors to join work, but they have not heeded.

So, now the government would take all action including appointing army doctors, railway doctors and other medicos to deal with the situation, the Health Minister said. He also hinted at taking strong steps against the doctors who would not join the duty by tomorrow.

Dr Ramdoss said that already instructions have been issued to the medical superintendents of various hospitals to assess the situation and inform about the needs of doctors. The government would make fresh appointments of doctors to fulfill the gaps, he said and hinted that these would not be ad hoc appointments but permanent ones.

''We have appealed enough to the students. Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Oscar Fernandes and even Prime Minister held talks with them but the strike still continues. We are really disheartened by their response,'' Dr Ramdoss said and added that now the government will take ''all necessary action to restore normalcy come what may.'' Asked whether the government was proposing to invoke ESMA to force doctors join their work, Dr Ramdoss said that the ministry was not thinking on those terms but ''we will do whatever it takes''.

Ruling out the possibility of another round of talks, he said that the Prime Minister himself called the agitating doctors and talked to them for over an hour still they did not listen to his appeal. The Prime Minister is totally disheartened with their approach.

He said that in view of the hardships being faced by the patients in various hospitals, the government would take tough decisions to restore normalcy.

He also said that steps are being taken to the opening of six new AIIMS like institutions in various parts of the country.

The proposal, which has been pending for a few years, has now been activated and the government is assessing the requirement of training of doctors to be appointed at these new institutes.

The land has already been allocated for these institutes and the doctors would be trained at AIIMS, PGI Chandigarh and JIPMER, Pondicherry, he said.

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