While patients continued to suffer on the fourth day of the medical strike, agitating junior doctors on Thursday ended up making rounds of the authorities in an attempt to get their degree certificates.
It was a day of high drama as the medicos rather unsuccessfully tried to corner principals of Osmania Medical College (OMC) and Gandhi Medical Colleges (GMC) and coax them into issuing certificates.
Armed with the recent High Court judgement, which apparently does not make it mandatory for them to do rural service, the junior doctors also made a beeline to A.P. Medical Council and demanded immediate registrations to start practising. However, at the end of the day, they were disappointed as health officials sought more time to study the judgement to arrive at a decision.
In an attempt to nullify the impact of the strike, officials at Gandhi and Osmania General Hospitals roped in reinforcements from A.P. Vaidya Vidhan Parishad and teaching hospitals. Professors, assistant and associate professors of teaching colleges have been asked to report to medical duties, health authorities said.
Senior health officials maintained that the HC judgement will be studied by experts before any government order is issued. “College principals can’t issue certificates as it’s a policy matter to be decided by the government,” they pointed out.
The medicos also rue that the current political situation is such that health officials are showing least interest in holding talks. “Our issues can be solved if we sit across a table but, so far, nobody from the government has invited us,” they said.
