Patna,(BiharTimes): Retaliating to the strike by junior doctors the Bihar government, in a unique development of its kind, on Friday decided not to assign emergency duty to them in all the six government medical college and hospitals in the state.

Junior doctors of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) and Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) and interns of Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College and Hospital, Gaya, and Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, Bhagalpur, are on strike. The PMCH strike entered its 10th day on Saturday.

 However, when the doctors have gone on strike demanding adequate security arrangements for them the state government on Thursday decided to raise the stipend of junior doctors of all the six government medical colleges in the state. This is a long-pending demand which the state government has not fulfilled in spite of the repeated assurances.

According to the principal secretary, health, Vyasji he has asked the PMCH principal to complete the inquiry into the manhandling of PMCH superintendent and deputy superintendent as quickly as possible and submit the report. People who have beaten them would not be allowed to go scot-free. Action would be taken against them as per law.

Though he added that this time the state government is not going to tolerate any indiscipline yet the fact remains that it is totally helpless and can hardly do anything because it too is partly responsible for the mess created in the PMCH and other hospitals in the last few years.

Junior doctors are of the view that the repeated attacks on them while on duty can never be tolerated. After all they are not responsible for the lack of infrastructure and medicine. It is for the state government to solve it. It has repeatedly failed in checking and providing encephalitis in the state for which they are being blamed, the Junior Doctors Association alleged.

The government helplessness can be measurd from the fact that a few years back none else but the state chief minister, Nitish Kumar, went on to threaten that he would close down the PMCH. The state government ordered lodging of cases against a dozen junior doctors following a similar strike. But it has to take back its decision following strong pressure build by some top NDA leaders, some of them eminent doctors.

Sources said that the state government’s decision to remove junior doctors from the emergency duty may create serious problem as the medical college and hospitals are facing acute shortage of senior doctors.

In their absence most of the burden are shared by junior doctors. Now if even they are withdrawn the patients would be left at the mercy of God.

Meanwhile, the strike by junior doctors have provided ample opportunity to touts to earn some fast bucks. They are fleecing patients and taking them to private nursing homes.

On an average doctors of PMCH remain on strike for something between 30 and 40 days every year yet there is no solution to this perennial problem.