GMC Yavatmal doctors call off strike after assurance of better security

Mumbai: Protesting resident doctors at Shri Vasantrao Naik Government Medical College (GMC), Yavatmal, on Friday evening called off their strike after medical education minister Girish Mahajan and district officials assured them of increasing security at the hospital

Mumbai: Protesting resident doctors at Shri Vasantrao Naik Government Medical College (GMC), Yavatmal, on Friday evening called off their strike after medical education minister Girish Mahajan and district officials assured them of increasing security at the hospital.

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The doctors had halted their work on Thursday evening after two resident doctors were reportedly stabbed by a patient.

The incident took place in the surgery ward of the hospital around 7.30pm when a patient, who was admitted to the hospital a day before on account of a self-inflicted stabbing injury, stabbed Dr Jebastine Paul Adwin on the neck. Another resident doctor was injured when he tried to intervene.

“In November 2021, final-year MBBS student Ashok Pal was found brutally murdered on the premises of the hospital. Since then, we have been demanding better security, which has not been provided yet,” Dr Sagar Dole, president of the hospital’s unit of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), said.

Enraged over the incident, the MARD has called a strike even stopping all emergency work. They also wrote a letter to the minister with demands like erecting a police chowki on the hospital premises, having metal detectors and baggage checkers at all entry points and installing an emergency alarm system. They also demanded stringent action against the patient, who stabbed Dr Adwin.

Earlier in the day, the district authorities, including the collector and superintendent of police spoke to doctors. Later in the day, Mahajan as well as Director of Medical Education and Research (DMER) Dr Dilip Mhaisekar also spoke to the striking doctors, reiterating the assurances of safety.

Resident doctors from all GMCs across the state wore black bands to work and organised candle marches to mark their support to their colleagues in Yavatmal.

1,432 new senior resident posts in state

The Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) on Friday issued a GR sanctioning 1,432 new senior resident posts and 247 tutor posts. This was one of the primary demands of the MARD’s state-wide strike that was called off on Tuesday.

With the sanction of the new posts, the total number of senior residency posts in the 23 government medical colleges has gone up to 2,276, the GR said. The Maharashtra Association of Bonded Resident Doctors (MABRD) had earlier written to the DMER stating that while the number of postgraduate seats in the colleges keep increasing, the number of senior resident posts have not been increased much, leaving many postgraduates without senior residency.