"Over a dozen patients have died in the last 24 hours due to lack of doctors and treatment in the hospital," an official said.

The official said that absence of doctors in the emergency wards had led to most of the deaths. However, the government is yet to officially confirm any death due to the doctors' strike.

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi has appealed to the striking junior doctors to end their agitation and resume work.

Health department officials say that negotiations between striking doctors and the authorities are going on.

Most of the wards of the hospitals wore a deserted look as hundreds of patients were forced to shift to private nursing homes.

"Those who cannot afford treatment outside have been left in the lurch and are waiting for treatment," a nurse in the hospital told IANS.

"The functioning of all the six medical colleges and hospitals is crippled since Monday. Emergency services have been hit and surgeries postponed. The hospitals have witnessed an exodus of patients," a health official said.

Three interns of ANMCH in Gaya, about 100 km from here, were injured Sunday night when security guards of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) legislator Surendra Prasad Yadav fired at them after a scuffle over the treatment of a woman patient.

Police have arrested the two bodyguards who fired at three interns but failed to arrest the politician.

Comment

comments...

It is really ridiculous and outrageous that some people are quick to pass judgment on doctors' strike, and are calling it unethical. I think these critics are mindless and completely lack understanding of the situation. Surendra Yadav and his goons have been terrorizing the residents, businessmen, doctors and other professionals for years, sadly without any consequence. All you have to do is talk to a common man in Gaya, and you will know that this guy is a career criminal implicated in a plethora of crimes ranging from extortion, rape, to murder. People like him belong behind bars and not in free society.

The issue here is safety of a common person and rule of law in Bihar, which can not be ensured until the state is run by "bahubalis" and bandits. We need to cleanse the state of criminals. Unfortunately, even Nitish Jee have notorious criminals like Anant Singh in his party, so the prospect for rule of law in Bihar is obviously bleak. We talk about justice to the patients, and expect doctors to get a beating from everyone and still follow the high road of selfless service. Clearly the problem is with this kind of expectation.

I agree that there are doctors who are driven by greed and do not discharge their duties ethically. So are people in every other walk of life in Bihar and other parts of India: Police, Politics, Business, Bollywood etc. The place is run by criminals and tax evaders and money launderers and even anti-nationals in every profession, so stop blaming just doctors. The overarching issue is "Can there be rule of law in our land?". The answer is absolutely not until there is accountability and consequences for individual actions.

Peace Lover

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It's is really painful to see that two dozen of innocent and poor lives were lost due to strike by the doctors which is hardly seen in any other part of the country. At present, we are indulge in the image makeover of Bihar and trying to make it developed state but, it seems that we have still not changed our mentality. We vent our ire by going on strikes and in turn punish mostly the innocent persons who is even remotely not connected to our agony.
Vivek Singh

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Without mincing any words I feel sorry for the Doctors of ANMCH but my agony for them completely fades away when I see plight of the people. The hapless people of the State are the losers.

"OVER TWO DOZEN DIE" Is this ethical and humanistic doctors? The doctors are losing sympathy which they had had some days ago.As the policemen who opened fire have been arrested and subsequently suspended there is no point in agitating. I think the doctors in Bihar have striked their work more than 30-40 times in last ten years due to which scores of people have died.

Doctors need no sympathy. These doctors do not perform their official duty well but examine the patients seriously at their personal clinic. I've seen even the Professors of medical colleges sitting in private clinics. Even there people are abused because they don't have options.

We always talk of bureaucratic and political corruption but it seems these doctors are most corrupt lots. They play with the life of people directly.

Very poor of you Doctors.

Raj Gayawala, Delhi