The Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) administration on Thursday lodged an FIR against employees on strike at Pirbahore police station, alleging that their agitation crippled surgery services.

Hospital superintendent Lakhendra Prasad claimed that a section of employees on contract, who were on strike, entered the operation theatre in the middle of a surgery and touched sterilised equipment to mess up the operation.

The doctors who had already started the procedure, had to stop midway as they couldn't use the instruments (which had been touched by employees). "We have lodged an FIR against the employees at Pirbahore police station. We have also informed the district magistrate and the senior superintendent of police. We have informed them to ensure that our operation theatre (OT) services are not affected by the strike. People can go on strike but this kind of behaviour, in which patients' life could be at risk, can't be tolerated," said Prasad.

Bihar Rajya Anubandhit Para Medical Karmi Sangh president Rajesh Kumar said: "We have been working in PMCH since the past eight to 10 years. We were recruited against sanctioned posts even on contract basis. We will make sure that the OTs don't run in the coming days as well," said Rajesh.

Four-month-old Sonu Kumar, son of Anil Kumar Sah, a daily wager from Jamalpur (Munger) bore the brunt. Sonu suffers from brain tumour and his scheduled surgery had to be postponed. Anil said: "I am waiting for my son's operation for the past two months. I came to PMCH two months back. Doctors gave us several dates of the operation and all of them were cancelled owing to some reason or the other. Today also, the surgery was cancelled."

In Muzaffarpur, primary health centres were closed. A source said outpatient department of sadar hospital was affected owing to the strike. In Chhapra, the outpatient department services of the primary health centres and the sadar hospital were affected.