Bindu Devi's husband Ajay Kumar on Thursday never felt so helpless when he had to carry his wife from one floor of Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) to the other as no one in the city's reputable government hospital was willing to take her case up.

Nalanda's Bindu, who had a fracture in her right leg, was admitted in NMCH on March 14. She has been waiting for an operation for a month. However, on Thursday, when doctors finally scheduled an operation, they had to cancel it at the last moment. Operation theatre assistants, lab technicians, X-ray technician, dressers and pharmacists on contract at NMCH went on a strike on Thursday for which 25 planned operations were cancelled at the last minute. The workers went on a daylong strike against the state's decision of not giving them extension. They also demanded service regularisation.

"I knocked at every door on Thursday to get my wife's operation done. I went to meet the head of the department and also the superintendent but in vain. We were waiting for the surgery for a month and today it was suddenly cancelled. The authorities should have fulfilled the demands of the agitating workers. Mostly poor patients visit government hospitals and in case of a strike, only they suffer," said Ajay.

Rajesh Kumar, the president of Bihar Rajya Anubandhit Para Medical Karmi Sangh, said: "The government's decision not to extend the contract is against the Supreme Court's order. The court had asked the state governments not to remove the contract workers until they find regular staff. We are going on a state-wide strike on April 19."

NMCH superintendent Anand Prasad Singh said: "On Wednesday, the association had informed us they were planning a strike but we had not received anything in written. Therefore, we had planned the surgeries on Thursday."

While OT assistants get the operation-related instruments sterilised before the operation and provide instruments to the doctors as per requirement, the lab technicians get the blood and other tests done before the operation.

The X-ray technicians are supposed to get the X-ray done, while a dresser is supposed to get the dressing of the wounds done and provide the necessary aid before the patient goes under the knife. The pharmacist has to provide drugs to the patients.