SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Feb 28: The six-day-long indefinite strike by the Garwha district doctors in protest against the assault on the civil surgeon and the deputy superintendent of Sadar hospital by the District Board chairman and the JMM district president witnessed a dramatic turn today in the morning.
The Garhwa superintendent of police (SP) Anjani Kumar Jha and deputy development commissioner (DDC) Rajesh Kumar Rai reached to agitating doctors and allegedly put pressure on the civil surgeon to call off the strike.
Succumbing under pressure, civil surgeon Dr Anil Kumar called off the indefinite strike duly on the spot.
However, as the message of the civil surgeon’s decision of calling off the six-day-old indefinite strike reached Ranchi, the state leaders of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the Jharkhand Health Service Association (JHSA) swung into action and put pressure on Dr Anil Kumar (CS) to revert his resolution.
The JHSA and IMA officials of Ranchi said the Garhwa CS that since state bodies of JHSA, and IMA has given a call for a strike in the district, an individual (CS) has no authority to call off the stir.
The civil surgeon taking the repercussion of JHSA, and IMA state leaders seriously, restarted the strike within an hour.
Notably, the doctors of Garhwa district on Thursday went on an indefinite strike in the evening after the District Board chairman and the JMM district leaders beat up the civil surgeon and the deputy superintendent of the hospital after locking them in a chamber.
Meanwhile, the JHSA state secretary Thakur Mritunjay Kumar Singh said that doctors of the state are geared up for 24-hour (from Wednesday 6 am to Thursday 6 am) service boycott agitation from tomorrow.
“All the private and government doctors, teachers of all six medical colleges including RIMS Ranchi would follow the boycott for safety and dignity of medicos in the state. However, emergency and essential services have been exempted from the agitation,” said the JHSA secretary.
Dr Thakur said that the JHSA and the IMA will hold a meeting tomorrow in Ranchi to chalk out the future course of agitation as the assault on doctors is not stopping.
“Token boycott stir may be turned into indefinite strike across the state if the government does not take proper action for restoring the confidence of medicos,” he said.
