Report to work or lose job, HC tells striking doctors

Residents doctors of several civic and state-run hospitals have been on strike since Monday. FILE PIC

The Bombay High Court on Monday came down heavily on the 4,500 resident doctors on strike since Monday. The court asked them to immediately report to work, and told the state government to start terminating services of those who don't. It also directed the Maharashtra Association for Residents Doctors (MARD) to start acting against striking doctors immediately.

Judgespeak
A bench of chief justice Manjula Chellur and justice Girish Kulkarni was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Afak Anwar Mandaviya. Mandaviya's counsel Datta Mane told the bench that 58-odd people across the state had died since Monday morning due to the strike. Although chief justice Chellur did not fully believe that statement, she was also told by the state's counsel that health care in civic and state-run hospitals had been paralysed owing to 60 per cent of its workforce not reporting to work.

"If you (resident doctors) think being a doctor you can behave like a factory worker, then you are unfit to serve as a doctor. It's a shame. How can you say 'first, provide security, then only we will work'. Aren't other doctors working?" asked chief justice Chellur.

"If you continue like this, then one day, people will thrash you in your rooms, what will you do then?"

Directing the state and MARD to start acting against striking doctors, she added, "If they don't resume work, start terminating services. MARD, if you don't support the strike, you should start removing members who resort to it."

Docs in dock
Advocate Prashant Pophale, appearing for the MARD, while maintaining that the association was not in support of the strike, said there had been three incidents - Dhule, Nashik and Sion - of assault on doctors, and that despite court orders, the state government had not provided them enough security.

Taking cognizance of that, chief justice Chellur said, "Why the public anarchy? It's madness… are people going to get their relatives back after assaulting doctors? I don't say that doctors don't commit mistakes, but there are complications due to which patients lose lives. Every case cannot be due to negligence of doctors, and even if it is, there are forums to address it."

The court has directed all hospital managements to start initiating action against striking doctors. It will soon start contempt proceedings against the doctors as they had promised in the last few hearings that they won't go on strike and will get their matters solved peacefully.
The court has kept the matter for further hearing on Wednesday.