Resident doctors take to streets in Delhi over NEET-PG counselling delay, services hit

Resident doctors of a large number of hospitals also "returned their apron (lab coat) in a symbolic gesture of rejection of services".

A large number of protesting resident doctors took to the streets in the national capital on Monday over the delay in NEET-PG 2021 counselling. As a symbolic protest, many of them even "returned their lab coats" earlier in the day.

Protesting resident doctors of various hospitals march near Safdarjung Hospital on Monday. (ANI Twitter)

As the agitation continued to intensify, patient care remained affected at three Centre-run facilities -- Safdarjung, RML and Lady Hardinge hospitals -- and some of the Delhi government-run hospitals, a PTI report said.

The Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) has been spearheading the protest for the last several days.

"We also tried to march from the campus of the Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) to the Supreme Court, but soon after, security personnel stopped us," he said.

Manish also alleged that several doctors were "detained" and taken to police state, before being released a little later. He further said police used force during the agitation and some of the doctors were injured.

Taking to Twitter, FORDA shared images of police personnel and protesters grappling with each other, with a police bus seen in the background.

However, police denied any allegations of lathicharge or use of abusive language from their end, and said 12 protestors were detained and released later.

They said for over six to eight hours, the protestors blocked the ITO road. Repeated requests to clear the area fell on deaf ears. Later, both the carriageways of the ITO Marg were also blocked by the protestors, according to the police.

"We spoke to the association members and tried to sort out the issue, but they continued to block the roads," a police official said.

According to police, while the protestors were being removed from the roads, they tried to tear the uniform of the police personnel. They even broke the glasses of a police vehicle and misbehaved with the forces.

(With inputs from agencies)