The Hindu : National : Doctors from Railways, Defence requisitioned

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 17, 2006

National

National

Doctors from Railways, Defence requisitioned

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: With the anti-reservation strike by doctors and medical students entering the fourth day, the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Tuesday requisitioned the services of 50 doctors from the Railways and Defence.

These doctors would be deployed on Wednesday to "strengthen" the Out-Patient Departments (OPDs) at the Safdarjung, Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) and the Lady Hardinge Medical College hospitals in the city that have been worst hit by the ongoing strike, a senior Health Ministry official said here. The emergency and intensive care services in all hospitals are functioning normally.

Even as the Ministry went "slow" on issuing notices to senior doctors for striking down work hoping that normalcy would return by Wednesday, 55 senior doctors have already reported for work. Of these, 25 joined their duty at the RML hospital. The junior doctors are contract employees and would be dealt with separately while medical students can be rusticated for indiscipline, the official said. However, we hope that the situation would return to normal by tomorrow, he added.

While a general notice has already been served to senior doctors, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences is reported to have issued individual show cause notices. As many as 150 senior doctors at the RML, 212 at Safdarjung hospital and 247 at the Lady Hardinge Medical College hospital could be served individual notices if they do not report for work.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail