Services of 92 striking resident doctors terminated

Nagpur, Apr 18 (UNI) Services of as many as 92 resident doctors at the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH) here, who were on strike demanding an increase in number of seats in post-graduate (PG) courses, have been terminated.

The IGGMCH administration served a collective notice of termination to all the 92 doctors last evening, official sources said.

The notice also cancelled their post-graduate registrations and asked all to vacate their rooms in the hostel, the sources said.

There are 150 resident doctors in the institution, they said, adding no action was initiated against the others as they were appearing for the final year examination of their post-graduation.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) IGGMCH unit Joint Secretary Samadhan Kshirsagar said their state-wide strike in support of the demands would continue. The resident doctors in the state are on strike to oppose the government's move to reduce the number of seats in post-graduate (PG) courses in government medical colleges in the state from the existing 653 to 411, he said.

The resident doctors are also demanding that the process of granting them registration of the Medical Council of India (MCI) be completed within a year, Dr Kshirsagar said.

The government had reduced the number of seats in PG courses from 1,800 in 1999 to 653. This would adversely affect the working of the government hospitals and ultimately cause hardship to the common man, he added.

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