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Delhi resident doctors' protest continue. Here’s why they are agitating
The protest took a dramatic turn on Monday after the doctors and police personnel had a face-off on the streets of Delhi, with both sides claiming injuries during the scuffle.
Hundreds of resident doctors from several government-run hospitals across Delhi have been protesting for the past few days over the delay in NEET-PG counselling, demanding that the process must be expedited.
A protesting doctor told news agency ANI on Tuesday they were trying to march towards the Supreme Court on Monday when they tried to go to the Delhi Police but were stopped and “beaten up” by them. They are marching towards the top court on Tuesday as well, the doctor added.
The protest took a dramatic turn on Monday after the doctors and police personnel had a face-off on the streets of Delhi, with both sides claiming injuries during the scuffle.
The Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA), which is leading the stir, has claimed several of its members were "detained" when they tried to hold a protest march from Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) to the Supreme Court on Monday.
Also read | Delhi doctors to continue protests over NEET counselling, call for shutdown
A PTI report cited FORDA president Manish as saying that, "police force was used and many doctors were injured" during the face-off.
On the other hand, the Delhi Police have denied allegations of lathicharge or use of abusive language from their end, and said, 12 protestors were detained and released later, the report further added.
Why are the doctors protesting?
The residents' doctors have been demanding that the process for NEET-PG counselling be expedited, which has been put on halt due to the outcome of a batch of petitions being heard by the Supreme Court over economic reservations.
The doctors, who have been protesting since November 27, 2021, have said the withheld counselling has resulted in a shortage of 45,000 doctors on the frontline.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 24 urged him to resolve the NEET-PG counselling crisis and augment manpower to face a possible third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, the doctors' association has said it will continue the protest from Safdarjung Hospital until their demands are met. "As night curfew has been imposed in the city, we returned to Safdarjung and will continue our protest from there," said Dr Kul Saurabh Kaushik, general secretary of FORDA, on Tuesday.
The NEET PG exam was scheduled to be held in January 2021 but got postponed in view of the first and second wave of the pandemic. It was finally held on September 12, 2021.
