In a welcoming news, the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) on Tuesday, January 3, called off its strike following the intervention of state medical education minister Girish Mahajan.
This development came after a “positive” dialogue with the minister on the issues raised by the resident doctors in government colleges. The doctors had stopped the work over various demands such as ranging poor hostel facilities, filling of posts of associate and assistant professors in government medical colleges and payment of COVID-19 pandemic arrears that have been pending for over a year.
Talking to reporters, the state medical education minister said, “The doctors have called off their strike after a positive dialogue. We have taken up these issues on war footing.”
The issue pertaining to hostels will be addressed immediately and INR 12 crores have been given to the public works department (PWD) for repairs, he added.
"We had a meeting with Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan and he assured us that 1,432 seats for senior resident would be created across the state on a priority basis. Funds will be released at the earliest for hostel renovation and new infrastructure for accommodation for resident doctors in medical colleges. We then decided to call off the strike,” said MARD president while talking to reporters.
To address this problem on a long-term basis, Mahajan said the state government has approached the Centre for INR 500 crore for building hostels, and help has also been sought from private companies so that their corporate social responsibility (CSR) fund can be used for constructing hostels.
Doctors had also raised issues related to civic hospitals and their arrears pending since the coronavirus period, he further shared.
Mahajan said he held a meeting with the chiefs of Thane and Mumbai civic bodies on the issue.
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