Kumar Rajiv Nayan

Ara : The doctors in Bhojpur district called of their five- days strik after a talk with Bhojpur District Magistrate Sanjeev Kumar on November 24, 2018, afternoon. Emergency service was restored at the hospitals including Sadar Hospital, Ara, immediately after the talk but the Out Patient Department (OPD) will start working from Monday as the strike was called off after end of  OPD hours.

OPD, emergency service at the government hospitals had come to standstill since November 20, 2018, in protest against alleged dictatorial behaviour of Bhojpur DM. The DM, with a view to streamlining the medicare system and ensuring presence of doctors at the Sadar Hospital,  had recently ordered the doctors to mark their attendance with biometric system and confirm their presence through video conferencing. On November 20 evening, the DM had asked the doctors of the Sadar Hospital to attend his video conference. All except Dr T A Ansari attended the video conference of the DM. Dr T A Ansari later clarified that he could not attend the DM’s video conference as he was on emergency duty attending patients. But absence of Dr T A Ansari allegedly irked the DM. The doctors, on the other hand, alleged that the DM’s security guards had thrashed three of theor colleagues at his behest.

On November 24, Bhojpur DM convened a meeting and some doctors such as Bhojpur Civil Surgeon Dr Jagdish Singh, Dr V N Yadav, Dr S K Dedia, Dr S K Rungta, Dr Vikas Singh, Dr:Prateek, Dr Arun, president, BHSA, and others attended the meeting and announced that the strike was called. They asked the the doctors to join their duty. It was also decided at the meeting that no action would be taken and Section 107 OPC and show notices served on doctors would be withdrawn.

Bhojpur DM Sanjeev Kumar said that doctors consented to resume their duty and the Civil Surgeon will supervise their working and presence and added that the DM, as a coordinator of all the departments, would only monitor the functioning of the hospitals. Civil Surgeon Dr Jagdish Singh said that medicare services have resumed and all the differences between the doctors and the DM had been resolved. Dr V N Yadav said that the DM assured not to take any coercive action against the doctors though the supervision will continue.

Dr Naresh Prasad, Secretary, Bihar Health Service Association (BHSA), Bhojpur unit, said that on the assurance of Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Health Minister Mangal Pandey, Principal Secretary, Health Department, Sanjay Kumar and Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar that the DM would not directly interfere in the the day to day functioning of doctors, the strike was called off after a talk with the Bhojpur DM. He said that the doctors were also assured that an inquiry committee would submit its report within a week and on the basis of that that the government would take an appropriate action the DM.

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