Gujarat cracks down on striking medicos

Govt. terms agitation over rural service bond, pay illegal

Taking a tough stand against protesting resident doctors, the Gujarat government on Friday termed the ongoing strike called by 2,000 resident doctors of six government medical colleges as “illegal”, and threatened to invoke the Epidemic Diseases Act if they do not return to work immediately. Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who also handles health portfolio, termed the agitation by the resident doctors as “illegal” and said the government will initiate stringent actions if the doctors did not return to duty. The agitating resident doctors, most of whom have recently finished their post-graduate training, are from government-run medical colleges of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar.