The Hindu : National : Medicos call for `civil disobedience'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 24, 2006

National

National

Medicos call for `civil disobedience'

Staff Reporter

"Only those with political clout will get the benefits of reservation"

— Photo: PTI

NOVEL PROTEST: Medical students and junior doctors stage a symbolic protest against the proposed reservation policy of the Central Government, in Amritsar on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: A day after the talks with Union Health Secretary P.K. Hota failed, medical students and doctors protesting against reservation on Tuesday issued a call for a "civil disobedience" campaign here on May 25.

"We have appealed not only to the medical fraternity and technical institutes, but also to people working in the corporate, information technology and small-scale sectors to join the civil disobedience movement this Thursday," said Binod Patra, president of the Resident Doctors' Association of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Counter plan

Also, in order to counter the Government plans to recruit senior and junior resident doctors in Central government hospitals, the protesters have decided to appear for these interviews themselves. Beginning with the Sucheta Kriplani Hospital on Wednesday, these interviews will be conducted at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on Thursday and Safdarjung and AIIMS on Friday and Saturday respectively.

Earlier, the striking doctors were asked to vacate their hostel rooms within 24 hours as their services had been terminated. However, none has left the premises. "They (authorities) have not used force. Also, our faculty members have assured us that alternative arrangements would be in place should the authorities get us evicted," said Sudeep, one of the striking doctors volunteering for Youth for Equality.

Support for strike

Among others who came to the AIIMS to show solidarity with students on hunger strike were a group of lawyers, retired army personnel, chartered accountants, senior citizens and also members of residents' welfare associations.

Sanjay Yadav, employed in a private medical firm laboratory, said he had come on his own to support the cause of striking doctors. "Many of my OBC friends in Bihar are without jobs. Only those with political clout from these classes get the benefits of reservation," he said.

A group from the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology also joined the strikers for a day. "We are going to take it further. There is an impression that only medicos are agitating against reservation. But students and researchers from every field are against it," said Amit Sharma, a senior research fellow at the Institute.

Silent protest

Those in favour of reservation staged a silent protest during lunch hour in the administrative block of AIIMS under the aegis of the Medicos Forum for Equal Opportunities.

"We are not on strike and do not want to disrupt the functioning of the hospital. However, we are against the agitation," said one of the representatives of the Forum.

The Forum, comprising faculty members, resident and other doctors from various colleges, also criticised the Central Government for failing to address the problems of backward sections.

"While its functionaries are fanning the fires of anti-reservation, it is embarking on privatisation and commercialisation of higher education thereby throwing the poor and the backward out of its purview," said the Forum.

Apart from strict implementation of reservation for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and OBC categories, the Forum also appealed to the doctors and students to build a powerful movement for quality education and equal avenues to all sections.

It was also in favour of increasing the number of seats in higher education and stopping its privatisation.

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