Delhi resident doctors call off their strike

 

New Delhi June 24  Over 20,000 resident doctors, who were on strike over a slew of reforms, late Tuesday called off their strike after a meeting with the union health ministry officials.

The doctors will resume their duties from Wednesday morning.

"We have called off the strike as we have been given proper time-frame within which the government will fulfil all our demands," Pankaj Solanki, Presdent of the Federation Of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) told IANS. 

FORDA is an association of doctors of 25 Delhi-based government hospitals.

Asked if the doctors would return back on strike if the demands were not fulfilled, Solanki said: "This time we have been given proper time-frame and we are pretty sure that they will implement the demands as they would not want patients to suffer again."

The meeting between the health ministry officials and FORDA representatives was chaired by Health Secretary B.P. Sharma.

Over 20,000 resident doctors from 25 government hospitals in the city went on an indefinite strike on Monday, demanding adequate stocks of life-saving drugs, security at work place, fixed duty hours and timely payment of their salaries.

The doctors had went on strike in February too after which the Delhi government had assured them of better working conditions.