Raj Thackeray takes up doctors’ demands with CM

Raj Thackeray, chief of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), met the striking doctors on Saturday morning at Sion hospital and offered to take up their demands with the state. However, he asked the doctors to first call off the strike as it was severely affecting patients.

Raj Thackeray, chief of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), met the striking doctors on Saturday morning at Sion hospital and offered to take up their demands with the state. However, he asked the doctors to first call off the strike as it was severely affecting patients.

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“Their demands are minor ones and I am ready to take up their case with the chief minister,” said Thackeray. He criticised the manner in which the state was handing the issue.

Thackeray then telephoned chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, who is currently camping in Delhi, but could not speak to him as he was busy in a meeting. He spoke to Chavan in the evening, when the latter said he has directed the Medical Education Secretary to trash out the solution on Sunday by meeting the MARD office bearers.

Thackeray was emphatic that the doctors should withdraw the strike immediately. “The doctors are losing their sympathy and the patients are suffering. The anger among the patients is increasing by the day,” he said.

Hospitals across the state have been severely affected by the doctors’ protest. Operations have been postponed and the work at out patient departments (OPD) has been curtailed.