More docs join anti-quota strike

New Delhi: Support appeared to be trickling in for Delhi doctors who have gone on an indefinite hunger strike against legislation to reserve more seats in educational institutions as five more doctors joined the strike on Sunday.

Five resident doctors of the Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) went on hunger strike in support of the striking doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

"We have joined in the hunger strike and very soon we will organise a big protest rally against the government. We have started calling back our students who are on leave and have also contacted other colleges for support," said Nandan Srivastava, joint secretary MAMC resident doctors association (RDA).

The number of doctors on hunger strike has now gone up to 30, with 25 of them from AIIMS.

Meanwhile, the condition of three doctors in AIIMS deteriorated and they are under observation.

"We have decided that these three doctors will continue their hunger strike. All three of them are showing signs of weakness as they have not eaten for more than 80 hours," said Kumar Harsh, president RDA AIIMS.

The three are under observation of their colleagues. They along with 15 other doctors of AIIMS began the strike on Thursday after the Lok Sabha passed a bill favouring quotas.

"Since all of us are doctors we have kept them under observation," said Anil Sharma, an RDA member.

"We do not wish to name them as that would lead to unnecessary media attention. We have carried out certain tests on the three and are monitoring their sugar level and blood pressure," he added.

"We have not shifted them to a hospital and they are still in the hostel. We have called for a general body meeting, which will decide if these doctors must continue the strike," Sharma said.

The AIIMS administration Friday issued an official statement against any rally in the hospital campus. "All rallies and protest marches in the campus are banned," the statement said.

Nearly 8,000 people avail of medical care at AIIMS every day. Of them, 6,000 are treated through outpatient departments.

Health services were affected in May when hundreds of doctors from state-run hospitals here went on a two-week strike to protest New Delhi's proposal to reserve 27 percent seats in higher educational institutions across India for other backward classes.