NEW DELHI, February 3: The Delhi High Court today stepped in to resolve the four-day long imbroglio at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and directed the striking resident doctors to resume their regular duties immediately.In a three-page order pronounced this evening following a petition by the AIIMS administration, which had termed the strike illegal, Justice C.M. Nayar said that resident doctors "shall continue to carry out the duties assigned to them as per the roster and they shall not strike, gherao or interfere, in any manner whatsoever, with the ingress and egress of the staff, faculty members, visitors, patients and their attendants."The AIIMS director Dr P.K. Dave has also been asked to "ensure the personal safety of the members of the Resident Doctors Association and take appropriate steps in this regard so that no untoward incident takes place." The grievance of the resident doctors was being examined by the director.The resident doctors have been striking worksince January 30 in protest against the alleged manhandling of one of their colleagues by the attendants of a patient. The hospital's security staff, they held, also did not come to the rescue of their colleague.The AIIMS counsel Mukul Gupta, in his petition against the RDA, had contended that the patient-care services in the hospital were being disrupted by the doctors who were obstructing other resident doctors in wards from working.Meanwhile, the resident doctors today said that their grievance regarding the handling of an increasing patient rush at the casualty was not being addressed by the administration. Though eight resident doctors were supposed to be working in each shift, the proposal, the RDA said, remained on paper and no more that five to six doctors were working on any given day.The residents also maintained that the security staff had the power to act against the errant patients and their attendants, though the cases of assault on doctors by them were becoming more frequent."Wehave been observing the work-to-rule order and have now been reporting for duty every morning," said an RDA spokesman. "If the administration or the senior faculty members still chose to cancel up to 100 surgeries every day or discharge the patients already undergoing treatment, we should not be blamed," he added.
