KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, July 12: Scores of patients who turned up at the MGM medical college hospital had to get disappointed as the junior doctors continued their strike on the second day today against the non-payment of stipend.
The striking junior doctors had on Monday softened their gesture by allowing the hospital OPD to function in the second half of the day. But today, they completely shut up the department while intensifying the stir.
Despite frantic efforts by the hospital authority and even interference of Jamshedpur East legislator Saryu Roy, the strikers did not budge from their stand.
All the 250 junior doctors of the medical college hospital are on the strike Monday, protesting against the non-payment of their stipend for the past five months.
The agitated doctors had resolved to observe a two-day strike from Monday in support of their demand and declared to continue it for an indefinite period since Wednesday if their demand for stipend payment is not met in these two days.
The MGM medical college hospital superintendent Arun Kumar said that the hospital emergency is somehow functioning due to the presence of senior doctors, but the OPD remained completely closed.
“The striking junior doctors have entered into the OPD block and locked up its gate from inside. As a result, neither any patient nor any senior doctor can enter into it. We had called in the police, but they could do nothing” said Kumar.
Concerned with the plight of the sick people, the veteran politician Saryu Roy today turned up at the OPD block and talked to the strikers. Having heard the junior doctors, Roy talked to Chief Minister Hemant Soren regarding the issue of non-payment of stipend.
After the talk with Soren, Roy conveyed the message that the stipend will be paid within the next two days, requesting the junior doctor to call off the strike. But the strikers remained adamant in their stand and reiterated that they would not allow the OPD unless the stipend is not paid.
MGM medical college hospital is the only viable government-run health hub across the Kolhan from where hundreds of people turn up for treatment every day.
