IMA threatens to paralyse health services in Bihar

Patna, Sep 19 (UNI) The Bihar unit of Indian Medical Association(IMA) today threatened to paralyse health services throughout the state if the government failed to secure the release of Dr Radhika Raman Prasad by 1400 hours tomorrow.

Dr Prasad was kidnapped from Bhojpur on September 17.

IMA's state unit secretary Dr Sachidanand Kumar said here that the police had failed to get any vital clue on the whereabouts of the abducted doctor.

''All doctors in the state, including those employed in private nursing homes and clinics, would join the total cease work agitation beginning tomorrow afternoon and no healthcare facility would be available to the people once the doctors go on strike,'' he cautioned.

Dr Kumar said that doctors of Darbhanga and Bhojpur districts were already on strike to protest the kidnapping while some junior doctors of Patna Medical College Hospital(PMCH) abstained from duty today.

Meanwhile, the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee(BPCC) expressed concern over the kidnapping and asked the state government to take steps for his safe release.

BPCC president Sadanand Singh said here that the government had failed to check criminal activities and kidnapping of the doctor bears testimony to lack of security.

''It also exposes the inefficiency of the NDA government,'' he said.

Mr Singh urged the government to provide security to physicians facing threats from anti-social elements.

He also demanded a thorough probe into an accident in Muzaffarpur which claimed six lives yesterday. The state government should pay compensation to the victims and ensure better treatment to those who sustained injuries in the accident, he added.

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