Raipur doctors join anti-quota agitation

Students said they would return to work on Tuesday, but vowed to step up agitation if quota hike was not checked.

Over 100 junior doctors and medical students of Raipur's state-run hospitals have joined the nationwide anti-quota strike.

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Emergency services were hit hard in the morning hours at the Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Government Medical College and Hospital and relatives were seen crying to get urgent treatment to their patients with the emergency ward deserted.

The junior doctors stopped attending to patients 6 am onwards and staged a demonstration outside the campus against Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh for his proposed move to bring in an increased quota for backward class students in higher education.

The striking students said that they would meet Governor KM Seth on Monday afternoon to handover a memorandum addressed to President APJ Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reject the quota hike proposal.

The medical students said that they would return to work from Tuesday morning, but vowed to step up their agitation if the government failed to crush the quota hike.

State Health Secretary BL Agrawal said: "I have brought in dozens of senior doctors from district hospitals to attend to emergency ward patients, but normal services will definitely be hit hard."