Patna, March 24: After paralysing services at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) for nearly 36 hours, the junior doctors of the health hub called off their strike today following a late-evening assurance from the administration to take care of their security.

Patients admitted to the premier hospital had a harrowing time as the doctors refused to soften their stand and a meeting between them and the hospital administration failing to resolve the row earlier during the day.

“We initiated a discussion with the management to bring an end to the patients’ sufferings. Our demand was that proper security arrangements be provided to us. But a few senior officials passed some objectionable remarks,” a junior doctor said.

“Another meeting was called in the evening, during which officials of the health department and the hospital management pledged to provide the junior doctors with security arrangements,” he told The Telegraph.

Functioning at the emer-gency ward of PMCH was paralysed as over 550 junior medics went on the strike yesterday following an assault on two postgraduate doctors by attendants of a patient, who died in the health hub.

Fresh trouble broke out at PMCH late last night when some junior doctors allegedly ransacked the offices of the superintendent and the medical college principal in protest against lack of security to them.

PMCH superintendent O.P. Choudhary said: “Our priority is to ensure that the emergency ward functions properly and each patient is attended to.”

Earlier in the day, the patients suffered a lot because of the doctors’ strike. Virender Rai, a resident of Samastipur, whose brother was admitted to the emergency ward of PMCH, said: “There’s virtually no doctor for two days and the condition of my brother is critical. I am planning to shift him to some other hospital.”

The situation in Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) was relatively quiet today after Friday’s ruckus. The medical college at IGIMS was closed for an indefinite period after some PMCH students and All India Students’ Federation activists ransacked its premises yesterday, protesting a shootout in which two first-year MBBS students were injured.

Director-general of police Abhayanand said: “The cops were directed not to use force to disperse the demonstrators but to videograph the incident. On the basis of the video footage, the police have been asked to file a chargesheet against 12 students.”

The DGP added: “The students will not be arrested.”

IGIMS director Arun Kumar said: “Each department functioned normally. The medical college and two hostels have been closed.”