A junior doctor treats a baby at the parallel out patient department of PMCH on Friday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Feb. 4: Satisfied with chief minister Nitish Kumar’s promise to implement the Medical Professional Protection Act (MPPA) and the surrender of RJD legislator Sruendra Prasad Yadav in the morning, the junior doctors called off their strike this afternoon much to the relief of poor patients and their kin.

The healthcare services at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) and Nalanda Medical College and Hospital returned to normality soon after the agitating medicos joined duty following a directive from Junior Doctors’ Association (JDA) to resume work immediately.

An immediate beneficiary of the decision of the junior doctors was Begusarai’s Sambhu Singh, whose brother was operated upon this evening — five days after he was admitted to PMCH following an accident.

Sambhu said: “Both the legs of my brother had to be amputated as he suffered grievous injuries. The senior doctors had told me the surgery would be performed only after the junior doctors’ strike was over. I couldn’t shift my brother to any private hospital during the strike, as I did not have money. The surgery was finally conducted today at PMCH soon after the strike was called off.”

Before the junior doctors decided to resume duty, they attended to patients at the parallel out patient department on the PMCH campus for the second consecutive day. They treated about 225 patients there and gave them medicines free of cost.

The junior doctors of all the six medical colleges of the state were on strike from Monday, a day after two securitymen of Yadav opened fire at the Gaya medical college. They have been demanding implementation of MPPA and the arrest of the MLA. They called off the agitation after the MLA surrendered and the chief minister promised to fulfil their demand for MPPA.

A group of six junior doctors from PMCH, AN Medical College, Gaya, and Darbhanga Medical College met Nitish at his residence today. “We had a satisfactory meeting with the chief minister. He has promised to fulfil our demands for MPPA and the senior residency scheme. Now that the accused MLA has surrendered, we have decided to end the strike and get back to work,” Dr Major Madhukar, a member of JDA, said after coming out of the meeting.

“Our meeting with the chief minister continued for 45 minutes. He gave us a patient hearing in the presence of the principal secretaries of the home and health departments and the director- general of police. Though we have not set any deadline for fulfilling our demands, we are hopeful that the chief minister will not back out from his promise,” Madhukar added.

Bihar Health Services Association (BHSA), a body representing the doctors in the government services, welcomed the decision of the junior doctors and hailed Nitish for his assurances.

“We have been trying to convince the chief minister for implementing the act in the state. There has been a spurt in assault of doctors and the act will be their security shield,” Dr Ranjeet Kumar, the spokesperson of BHSA told The Telegraph.