Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Dealing with doctors

When doctors struck work in May, the Government appealed to them to resume duty and assured them that no action would be taken against them. Instead of honouring its word, the Government applied the `no work no pay' principle for the strike period after they resumed work.

Now we know why government employees do not accept oral assurances from their superiors but insist on written orders. The Supreme Court is right in telling the Solicitor-General that the Government should act like a model employer. It is a sad reflection on the UPA Government's functioning.

E. Sivasankaran,
Coimbatore

* * *

The latest developments in AIIMS only serve to undermine the country's premier medical institution. While the common man has already lost faith in the institute because of recurring strikes by its doctors, the death of a patient on its premises after he was denied admission to the casualty as a result of a flash strike by resident doctors is shocking and shameful.

Sutirtha Sahariah,
New Delhi

* * *

The medical profession is a noble one. Nothing can justify a patient dying after being denied care at the door of a hospital. Is holding the lives of people to ransom the only way of expressing one's opposition and dissent? Demanding a curb on doctors' right to freedom may be too much. The restraint should come from within them. Even during the freedom struggle, Gandhiji did not give a call to doctors to quit their jobs.

Neeraj Kumar,
New Delhi

* * *

Both the Government and AIIMS doctors should have resolved the crisis among themselves instead of creating confusion and causing hardship to patients. There is no excuse for doctors to go on a lightning strike. A premier health care institution should function free of problems because they affect a huge population.

D.B.N. Murthy,
Bangalore

* * *

Such crises create a lot of inconvenience for the people with whose tax money institutions like AIIMS function. It is a pity that the people are last on everyone's priorities.

V.S. Ganeshan,
Bangalore

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