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This is an archive article published on October 8, 1998
Patients hit as docs refuse to call off stir
GANDHINAGAR, Oct 7: Thousands of patients in Vadodara, Jamnagar and Surat continued to suffer for the 30th day on Tuesday, with neither t...
GANDHINAGAR, Oct 7: Thousands of patients in Vadodara, Jamnagar and Surat continued to suffer for the 30th day on Tuesday, with neither the state government, nor the striking junior doctors showing any inclination to budge from their stands.
An adamant Health Minister Ashok Bhatt asked the doctors to call off their strike. quot;We will consider their demand for a hike in stipend later,8221; he asserted. But the doctors were equally adamant, arguing that they had waited long enough for the government to give them their due.
With both sides sticking to their guns, a meeting of representatives of junior doctors from Jamnagar Medical College with the minister ended in a deadlock, although Bhatt told doctors that he had discussed their demand with Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala and quot;he was positivequot;.
Angry over the government8217;s quot;apathyquot;, the doctors in Jamnagar stepped up their agitation by starting an indefinite fast. Another indefinite fast was started in Surat on Monday and conditions of 11 junior doctors werestated to be serious.
Jamnagar JDA secretary Kamal Dodia accused the Health Minister of making it quot;a personal, prestige issuequot;. He alleged that Bhatt had also insulted them by asking them to go to other states when they compared their positions with that of their counterparts in other states.
Doctors in Surat alleged that the Health Minister felt slighted when, bypassing him, they called on Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel and raised their demand. quot;He is penalising us,quot; remarked a doctor.
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