Govt heaves sigh of relief as doctors resume duty

New Delhi, May 31 (UNI) The government today expressed satisfaction that the doctors agitating over the quota issue have decided to return to work, and assured that there would be no punitive action against medicos joining duty tomorrow.

''Good that the doctors at AIIMS are going back to work. I hope that medicos at other colleges would also follow. We hope that normalcy would be restored by tomorrow morning after a long two and a half weeks,'' Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told UNI.

Stating that the public was disheartened by the agitation of the doctors, he said finally things were coming back to normal.

The Health Minister said that no action would be taken against those joining duty by tomorrow morning. ''But if somebody does not join by 9 o'clock tomorrow, we will definitely take action against them.'' Asked whether any doctor was served notice this afternoon as been warned in the morning, Dr Ramadoss said since the government had an inkling that the doctors might call off their strike, no such notices were served.

About whether the government had conceded to any of the demands of the agitating doctors, the Health Minister said only the Prime Minister could say anything on this.

However, he clarified that the decision to reserve 27 per cent seats for OBCs in higher educational institutions had been taken by Parliament and the UPA government was committed to it.

He said the Prime Minister had already assured doctors that the seats in general category would not be affected, so their apprehensions were unfounded.

Moreover, the decision to increase the number of seats in AIIMS and PGI Chandigarh had already been taken, he informed.

About reports that only the doctors had decided to rejoin duty and that students would not attend the classes, Dr Ramdoss said the students could not be terminated. ''But we will see the situation tomorrow and then decide how to deal with them.'' UNI AJ LR KP2044