NEET-PG counselling delay | Maharashtra resident doctors call off strike

Resident doctors in Maharashtra, who were on strike to seek a resolution of the NEET-PG counselling delay and other issues, called off their protest on January 4 after a “fruitful” meeting with the state medical education and research director, a representative of the resident doctors said.

Thousands of resident doctors in the state had gone on their strike on Friday, demanding recruitment of non-academic junior resident doctors equal to the number of residents in colleges.

In some of the medical colleges in Mumbai, they were on strike since last Thursday.

In a statement issued late January 3 evening, Central Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) president Avinash Dahiphale said the recruitment of house officers/medical officers in all government/corporation medical colleges and hospitals as per requirement in the view of delay in NEET-PG counselling has been addressed.

The runanubandh bhatta (allowance) will be released soon for the remaining medical colleges, he said.

Irregularities pertaining to stipend at few medical medical colleges will also be addressed soon, he said, after a virtual meeting with the state medical education and research director on January 3.

The demand of NEET-PG State counselling is not under power of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER), hence it will be addressed after directions from the national medical counselling committee, he said.

“So, as our three out of four demands are met and considering the sharp rise in the number of Omicron cases in the state, the Central MARD committee has decided to call off the strike and resume duties,” Mr. Dahiphale said.

Resident doctors in Delhi, who had also been protesting against the delay in NEET-PG counselling for about two weeks, called off their strike on Friday and resumed services after receiving assurances from the government that their demands would be looked into, their federation earlier said.