Docs put agitation on hold for a week after Centre’s assurance

New Delhi: The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) has decided to put their agitation on hold for a week after Union health ministry officials assured them that NEET-PG counselling would be fast-tracked in the court.

For the past three days, patients have been suffering outside various hospitals as doctors have suspended OPD and emergency services. FORDA said if their issues were not resolved by December 16, then they would be forced to go for a complete shutdown of all services, except Covid-19, in healthcare institutions.

Dr Manish, president, FORDA, said, “A meeting was held with the health minister on Wednesday and he assured us of a positive response. So, we are suspending the protest for a week and all resident doctors will resume work immediately.” He added that they would restart the protest from December 17 if no concrete steps were taken over the reported delay in NEET-PG 2021 counselling.

“A plea was issued by MoHFW for fast-tracking the court hearing. We were assured by the Union health minister that the Prime Minister’s Office was also looking into the issue and the process would be completed within a week. Considering the above and looking at the security situation of the nation owing to the untimely demise of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and other army personnel in a tragic accident, FORDA has decided to hold the agitation for a week after discussing with state RDA representatives in a virtual meeting today,” FORDA said in a statement.

Resident doctors of three central hospitals — Ram Manohar Lohia, Safdarjung and Lady Hardinge — on November 27 suspended OPD services in protest against the repeated delay in conducting NEET-PG 2021 counselling. Admission to various courses has been delayed indefinitely following the pandemic.