Amritsar: Resident doctors at GMC strike medical services

Tribune News Service

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Amritsar, December 17

Postgraduate students-cum-junior resident doctors of Government Medical College (GMC) observed strike on Friday seeking early counselling of NEET PG 2021.

They are irked over repeated delays in holding the counselling session.

Consequently, they boycotted routine services such as out-patient department (OPD), IPD, elective OT, MLR, PMR. Even as the national body of the junior resident doctors had given a call for boycott of emergency and Covid services, they remained non-effected on Friday.

Sawinder Kaur, a resident of Nangali village, said private clinics, hospitals and laboratories were already out of common man’s reach yet the government does not give due importance to its healthcare units to provide quality health services to residents.

Another patient Harpreet Singh said: “The government must settle the matter at the earliest to avoid hassles to its JRD and the general public.”

Dr Amrit S Parmar, president of the association, said the strike was in response to the nationwide protest call given against repeated delays in NEET PG 2021 counselling. He said its objective was to protest indifferent attitude of the Union government towards the plight of resident doctors. He said initially the NEET-PG examination, which was normally conducted during the months of January-February, was extremely delayed. He alleged that the court case regarding economically weaker sections (EWS) quota was one more factor holding back the counselling. The PG students who discharge duty of JRs, form the backbone in delivering medical services at the medical college and hospital. Generally, the new batch joins the medical colleges by May-June. Six months’ delay was not allowing PG final-year students to focus on the academics.