Resident doctors call off strike after Health Ministry promises action

After the Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya promised striking doctors that the government will start counselling for PG seats after the hearing in Supreme Court on January 6, the resident doctors have called off their strike.

Their request to quash all the FIRs lodged against the protesting doctors has also been accepted by the Delhi Police.

Thousands of resident doctors were on protest for the past 15 days across the country as they were demanding counselling for Post Graduate admission to be started as soon as possible. These students have been waiting for more than a year.

The counselling is not happening due to the non-implementation of the OBC and EWS quota as some doctors have moved the Supreme Court against the non-implementation of the reservation quota in PG admissions.

Though the Supreme Court hasn’t stayed the counselling process, however, it asked the government to look for ways to resolve the deadlock. The government has sought time from the court on a couple of earlier occasions but didn’t come out with any plan on how the reservation would be implemented. The government is supposed to file its stand in the court on January 6.

Dr Manish Kumar, president of Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA), “The strike has been called off. We will rejoin work at 12 pm. We had a meeting with the joint commissioner of police (CP) last night where he gave instructions to cancel the FIR. As for the NEET-PG, we have been assured that the court clearance will come during the January 6 hearing.”