Bhubaneswar, Sept. 24: A 17-day deadlock came to an end as agitating students of VSS Medical College and Hospital finally decided to call off the strike from today.
“We are calling off the strike honouring the high court’s advice and keeping in view the larger interest of the patients. Classes will start from tomorrow,” president of the Junior Doctor Association of VSS Medical College Premaraj Debata told The Telegraph here this evening.
“The state government has also assured us they will take adequate security measures following the high court’s directive and has already initiated measures,” said Debata after a dialogue with Orissa health minister Prasanna Acharya at the secretariat.
The high court had also constituted a committee to monitor the security arrangements, he said.
Acharya said: “We have initiated steps to implement the high court’s directives.”
He said the discussions with the representatives of agitating junior doctors and medical students were held in a very cordial atmosphere.
The junior doctors and students of all the three government-run medical colleges have been on strike following an alleged attack on junior doctors of the VSS Medical College and Hospitals by “outsiders”, including a BJD leader.
VSS Medical College was closed indefinitely on September 7 following a clash between agitating junior doctors and postgraduate students and a group of local residents.
The junior doctors and students of the college sat on a dharna in front of the college for two days and then shifted it to the Orissa capital.
Junior doctors and postgraduate students of SCB Medical College at Cuttack and MKCG Medical College in Berhampur extended their support by launching ceasework.
Consequently, healthcare services at the three government-run medical colleges had been disrupted for more than 15 days.
Though VSS Medical College was reopened on September 20, junior doctors and medical students did not resume duties.
Following dialogue with the Orissa government, the agitating medics at SCB Medical College in Cuttack have announced they would resume their duties from tonight.
“Respecting the high court’s direction and in view of fruitful talks with the state government, we have decided to call off our agitation from today,” said Niranjan Panigrahy, a Joint Action Committee (an umbrella body of the junior doctors’ associations of the three medical colleges) member.
“We are happy that finally our demands have been met,” said K. Satyanarayan Rao, another JAC member.
“The students and junior doctors have called off the strike following talks with the government. We welcome their decision,” said superintendent of SCB Medical College D.N. Moharana.
Reports from Sambalpur said the agitating medical students of VSS Medical College of Burla have called off their agitation.
“We have called off our strike. We respect the expectations of the high court. Moreover, the health minister has assured us that our problems will be resolved very soon. We have faith in the assurance of the health minister,” said Saubhagya Tripathy, member of the committee.
“The services in medical colleges in Cuttack and Berhampur will resume from today,” he said.
The 17 day- long dead lock came to an end as the agitating students of VSS Medical College and Hospital finally decided to call off the strike from today.
“We are calling off the strike honoring the High Court’s advice and keeping the larger interest of the patients in view. Classes will start from tomorrow”, president of Junior Doctor Association of VSS Medical College, Premaraj Debata told The Telegraph here this evening.
“The State government has also assured to take adequate security measures as per the High Court’s directive and has already initiated measures, “said Debata after a dialogue with State health minister Prasanna Acharya at the State secretariat.
The High Court has also constituted a committee to monitor the security arrangements, he added.
Health minister, Acharya said, “ We have initiated steps to implement the High Court’s directives”.
He said the discussions with the representatives of agitating junior doctors and medical students were held in a very cordial atmosphere.
The junior doctors and students of all the three government-run medical colleges had been on strike following alleged an attack on junior doctors of the VSS Medical College and Hospitals by “outsiders” including a ruling Biju Janata Dal leader.
The VSS Medical College was closed sine die on September 7 following a clash between agitating junior doctors and post graduate students and a group of locals.
The junior doctors and students of the college sat on dharna in front of the college for two days and then shifted their dharna to the State capital. They had been staging dharna here since last days.
Meanwhile, junior doctors and post graduate students of SCB Medical College at Cuttack and MKCG Medical College at Berhampur extended their support by launching cease work agitation. Consequently, health care services at the three government-run medical colleges were disrupted for more than 15 days.
Though the VSS Medical College was reopened on September 20, the agitating junior doctors and medical students did not resume their duty
Following the dialogue with the State government, the agitating medicos at SCB Medical College at Cuttack have announced to resume their duties from tonight.
“Respecting the High Court’s direction and the fruitful talks with thestate government, we have decided to call off our agitation fromtoday,” said Dr. Niranjan Panigrahy, Joint Action Committee (JAC) member
“We are happy that finally our demands have been met,” said K. Satyanarayan Rao, another JAC member.
“The students and junior doctors have called off the strike followingtalks with the government. We welcome their decision,” said superintendent of SCB Medical College. DN Moharana.
Reports from Sambalpur said the agitating medical students of VSS Medical College of Burla have called off their agitation. “We have called off our strike. We respect the expectation of the high court. Moreover, the health minister has assured that our problems would be resolved very soon. We have faith in the assurance of the health minister,” said Saubhagya Tripathy, member of joint action committee of agitating doctors.
“The medical service in medical colleges at Cuttack and Berhampur will resume from today,” said he.
(With additional reporting by Vikash Sharma and Subrat Mohanty
