MARD to continue its strike

Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) continue its strike due to not receiving a certified copy of the Bombay High Court order.

Earlier on Thursday, the association had asserted that the doctors on strike were ready to join back work after the High Court assured to provide armed police personnel for their security.

"The court has requested the doctors to join back to services and simultaneously, directed the state government to allow only one attendant of the patient and appoint armed police personnel at the main gate of the respective wards of the hospital," Rahul Rotala, the lawyer representing the MARD told ANI.

"Doctors are ready to join their duties once the state government implements the court's undertakings for their security," he added.

The Bombay High Court, yesterday, ordered the doctors on strike to resume their duties and give some time to the government for providing them proper security.

The High Court also ordered the state government to provide security at all government hospitals so that the doctors could work without fear.

It ordered that no punitive action should be taken against the protesting doctors once they resumed their duties.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has requested the resident doctors to withdraw their strike immediately and ensured them security.

The strike by Maharashtra's doctors, who are protesting a spate of assaults on colleagues by patients' relatives, entered the fourth day on Thursday even as nearly 2,000 of them got expulsion notice a day ago.

The agitators said patients were usually accompanied by a large number of relatives, which put pressure on them. They have demanded adequate security measures and a pass system, where not more than two relatives would be allowed to remain with a patient inside the ward.

In the intervening time, thousands of patients were left to suffer and bear inconvenience at public hospitals due to the protest.