3,000 junior doctors resign after high court says their strike is ‘illegal’

Madhya Pradesh: On Thursday, hours after the Madhya Pradesh High Court directed the striking junior doctors in the state to resume their duties within 24 hours, terming the protest “illegal”, nearly 3,000 medicos resigned from their posts and announced they will challenge the ruling.

Dr. Arvind Meena, President of Madhya Pradesh Junior Doctors Association (MPJDA)  confirmed nearly 3,000 junior doctors working in the six government medical colleges of the state resigned from their posts on Thursday and submitted their resignations to the dean of their respective colleges, added, the strike, which began on Monday, will continue till their demands are fulfilled.

The junior doctors have put forward multiple demands before the state government, including a hike in stipend and free treatment for them and their families if they contract the deadly coronavirus infection.

Dr. Arvind Meena told that the association will move the Supreme Court against the High Court judgment. He also claimed that on May 6, the government had promised to fulfill the doctors’ demands but nothing was done after that, “The government has promised to raise the stipend by 24% and till they raise it to that limit, the strike will continue,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the high court at Jabalpur with a division bench of Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq Ahmed and Justice Sujoy Paul termed the statewide strike called by the JDA as illegal and directed the protesting junior doctors to return to work by 2:30 PM on Friday. The bench condemned the JDA’s decision to go on a strike at the time of a pandemic and said such a step cant be encouraged during a health crisis.

Meanwhile, at a press conference in Bhopal, Nishant Warwade, Medical Education Commissioner, Madhya Pradesh, said that the state’s Medical Education Minister Vishvas Sarang met the representatives of the doctors’ association and taken several positive steps for resolving the matter. He added, the government had already approved a 17% raise to the doctors’ stipend, and there would be more increments depending on the Consumer Price Index.

The official further said that treating patients was the moral duty of doctors and they were expected to go back to work.