HAVING participated in angry protests for 12 days including striking work for four days, Dr Swapnil Meshram finally relented and resumed work in the anaesthesia department of JJ hospital Friday. So did Dr Yashowardhan Kabra at the KEM hospital. The two resident doctors are the general secretary and president respectively of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), that was until now at the fore-front of the unofficial strike. There was no strike call actually, only these and other leaders guiding 4,500 statewide resident doctors to go on mass casual leave. On Thursday night, a MARD circular was issued to call off strike, but an internal rift among the protesting doctors followed, with the large majority of resident doctors choosing to follow the lead of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) whose leaders were seeking an extended agitation. The IMA is an industry body of 2.5 lakh registered allopathic doctors in India, with members specialised in modern medicine, associated with both corporate and government hospitals. The IMA’s backing of MARD’s mass leave led to countrywide affiliates of the IMA backing the Maharashtra doctors’ strike. On Friday, backed by the IMA even after MARD called off their protest, at least 4,000 resident doctors continued their agitation. IMA announced it has called off strike to 12 other supporting associations later in the day following an hour-long meeting with the chief minister. But by evening confused resident doctors in Mumbai lost faith in both bodies and formed a splinter group that continued protest at KEM, Sion and Nair hospital, Mumbai, until Friday night before finally caving in. “It became a ship without a captain,” a senior MARD official said. By night, most doctors resumed duty in BMC hospitals as opposed to 106 in morning. The fifth day of the strike, even if partial, cost government hospitals over 400 routine surgeries in Mumbai alone, affecting thousands of patients who witnessed yet another day of half-shut out patient departments (OPDs). While this week, an estimated 1,500 surgeries took a hit in four major government hospitals in Mumbai, expected to create a massive backlog in coming days. “All our 10 demands were heard and agreed upon by Chief Minister on Thursday. We had a very satisfying meeting. We also gave an undertaking in court that we will issue circular to all residents to report to duty,” a senior MARD official said. But several claim the strike was escalated and hijacked by IMA, a body with 17 branches in India and 40,000 doctors in Maharashtra. “On Thursday night, IMA asked us to continue with strike, resume only when ground reality changes,” a resident doctor from Sion Hospital said. “This shows the double standards of IMA. They instigated all doctors to keep protesting until visible changes were brought. And now suddenly they have called off the strike fearing government back lash,” Dr Meshram says. Others, however, point that government’s assurances mean little until implemented and hence decision to protest was rational. “These assurances are like toys given to crying children. How can we trust government after they failed us all these years?” Dr Chinmay Pathak, resident at KJ Somaiya College said. The private college’s 50 doctors had joined a day-long strike Friday. The reason for distrust goes deep. In 2006, state’s then deputy chief minister R R Patil assured to make assault on doctors a non-bailable offence. In 2015, 31 assaults on doctors were reported, in 2016 there were 16 and this year eight assaults cases have been registered with police. Conviction in these cases remains zero and assaulters managed to get bail within a day of arrests. In 2015, three doctors were beaten by four family members of an infant who succumbed to dengue at KEM hospital. While then medical education minister Vinod Tawde visited the hospital, assured additional CCTV cameras and immediate pass system for relatives, little changed on ground. The pass system has still not become functional in any major government hospital. In 2015, MARD conducted two strikes. The former president Dr Sagar Mundada later gave an undertaking in Bombay High Court to restrain from strikes and protest peacefully as permitted under law. This year, forced by that undertaking MARD could not officially call for a strike relying heavily on IMA, who youth wing’s chairman is now Mundada, to lead their cause. Despite an assurance in court they will ask members to report back to work, the top authority lost control over 4,500 doctors who remained confused and followed IMA’s lead. “It is a question of their faith in government and whether assurances will be fulfilled,” says Dr Parthiv Sanghvi, IMA Mumbai’s secretary. By Friday evening he said, IMA was calling off the strike after their delegation met the CM. Incidentally, the delegation presented same demands as MARD and got similar assurances that CM gave MARD a day before. On Friday, with concerns of faltering public health care CM Devendra Fadnavis lashed out at protesting doctors warning of strict action. IMA was forced to step back leaving confused doctors to report back to work. “The state government cannot leave helpless patients to die. I want to remind the doctors that government spends lakhs on medical students’ education which is the taxpayers’ hard earned money. Today, doctors are depriving those very people of medical treatment which is their right,” said the CM. “When doctors refuse to provide medical treatment to patients, it displays a high degree of insensitivity. Probably, they have forgotten their pledge they take while joining the noble profession,” he said.
