Mumbai: The state unit of Indian Medical Association (IMA) said it was calling off the 24-hour strike by doctors across Maharashtra scheduled for Monday following HC’s suo motu intervention in the Dombivli hospital attack case. But it sought that the state govt provide legal protection to the medical fraternity through an ordinance, failing which it will be compelled to undertake a 24-hour withdrawal of services on July 27 as a token protest and an indefinite strike from Aug 9.
IMA president Dr Santosh Kulkarni said the strike withdrawal was out of respect for HC’s appeal to doctors to reconsider their decision but the larger demand for stringent amendments to Maharashtra Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage or Loss to Property) Act, 2010, remains unaddressed.
“The current issue does not pertain to a single isolated incident. Rather, it reflects the increasing and repeated acts of violence against doctors and healthcare workers, which have become a serious threat to the safety, dignity and functioning of the healthcare system,” said IMA.
Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) is scheduled to meet CM
Devendra Fadnavis this week, where these issues will be raised. “We will be on indefinite strike only if our concerns are not adequately addressed. Some of them are also about other problems residents are facing with their hostel facilities,” said MARD president Dr Atharva Shinde.
