NEW DELHI: Barring three states ruled by the BJP and its allies, health services were restored in state-run hospitals across the country as medicos on Thursday ended their 20-day-old anti-quota stir following a directive from the Supreme Court.
OPD services in premier health institutions in the capital like AIIMS, Safdarjung and Lady Hardinge resumed with junior doctors reporting back to duty. The situation was the same in government hospitals in West Bengal, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and other states.
However, the protest against the proposed quota for OBCs continued in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, both ruled by the BJP, and Orissa, where a BJD-BJP coalition is in power.
Medicos in Jaipur said their stir would continue as they had not received a copy of the apex court's order and that they would also organise a rally on June 11. The teaching staff of SMS Medical College continued a hunger strike in support of the medical students.
In Bhopal, Junior Doctors Association general secretary Anand Rai said, "The strike will continue in Madhya Pradesh. Medical colleges in the state are under-staffed and lacking infrastructure. The Centre can't increase seats as the Medical Council of India will never permit it."
Students of the MKCG Medical College Hospital at Berhampur in Orissa enforced a bandh called by them by blocking two highways and stopping long distance trains. They also rejected the call to end the strike.
Though the medicos in other states resumed duties following the Supreme Court order, they made it clear that they would continue supporting the agitation against the Centre's proposal to introduce a 27 per cent quota for OBCs in elite educational institutions.
