CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Thursday asked the striking junior doctors, house surgeons and students of the three Government medical college and hospitals to resume duty from Friday while directing the State Government to provide adequate security at VSS Medical, Burla. The medicos, however, said they will continue the strike.Passing an interim order in the open court, the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice V Gopalagowda and Justice B N Mohapatra directed that the prohibitory order against four persons, Sisir Dandia, Jagannath Rao, Santosh Kumar Jena and S Subramaniam should be strictly enforced. If they violate the prohibition or depute people to act on their behalf, they should be arrested immediately, the Bench ruled.The IG of police, Collector and SP should make adequate security arrangement and ensure protection of the doctors and students. Three platoons of police should be deployed on the campus, the Bench added. The president of the District Legal Services Authority, Sambalpur, who is also the District and Sessions Judge, has been directed to monitor the interim order. He, along with the IG, Collector and SP should hold periodic meetings to ensure proper environment for smooth functioning of the VSS Medical. “Since we have passed this interim order, we also hope and trust that the students undertaking MBBS and PG courses shall resume their duty from tomorrow and start providing treatment to the patients. Secretary, Information and Public Relations, has been directed to telecast on TV channels and radio broadcast that the agitating medical students should report to duty from tomorrow”, the bench ruled. The interim order is applicable to SCB Medical, Cuttack and MKCG Medical, Berhampur where students are also on strike.The directions came in response to a PIL filed by Gadadhar Sahoo of Cuttack submitting that the strike had paralysed health services in the hospitals. At a time when the State was ravaged by flood, the action of the students was improper and unlawful, it said.As many as 613 students of VSS Medical had also filed a writ petition seeking directions for provisioning adequate security, establishment of unified campus and arrest of Dandia. Intervention petitions had also been filed by students of SCB Medical, Cuttack and MKCG Medical, Berhampur.The meeting of the Joint Action Committee of three medical colleges to discuss the development went on late into the night. “We respect the HC’s observations but our main demands have not been met,” a spokesperson said.Meanwhile, around 15 junior doctors of the VSS Medical, who had been sitting on a hunger strike at Bhubaneswar since Wednesday, shifted base to SCB Medical, Cuttack, on Thursday to be joined by others at the premier health institution.
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