MUMBAI, NOV 19: As further negotiations with the government seeming bleak, about 5,000 resident doctors in the state are poised to go on an indefinite strike from Sunday night to press for their demands on pay hike.Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) spokesman, Dr Rajas Deshpande today stated that they have been petitioning the government since January 1998 but there had been no response till they gave a strike notice. However, the discussions were fruitless as the government cited severe financial crunch as the reason for not giving the resident doctors a pay hike, he said. ``But at the same time, the government finds money to give bonus to its employees and to buy cars for its ministers,'' he said.The strike will start simultaneously in all the government medical colleges in the state, Dr Deshpande said. Meanwhile, the resident doctors will continue to meet the press at the MARD office within the hospital premises despite a notice from the authorities that prohibits them, he added.Various non government associations including the Association of Medical Consultants and the College Teachers Union, have supported the strike as they feel that the demands of the resident doctors are just. Meanwhile, hospitals have started gearing up for the impending strike by calling in medical officers from peripheral hospitals and merging some wards. A senior doctor in Sion Hospital revealed that only those patients who required emergency care were being kept in the hospital with others being asked to return home.According to Dr A C Mohanty, dean of JJ Hospital, all the full time and honorary doctors have been asked to draw up a schedule list of how they will manage the patients during the strike. The government will try its best to see that no services are curtailed and that all patients get treatment, he said. But he admitted that it will not be possible to have usual services.
