Pune: For the past few years, the Maharashtra Resident Doctors' Association (MARD) in the state has been continuously demanding the government increase the number of hostels in the state and make the stipend on the lines of central health institutions. On Monday, a meeting was held between Medical Education Minister Hasan Mushrif, joint secretary of the finance department, and MARD office-bearers on the issue. However, as no concrete assurance was received in the meeting, the resident doctors in the state are firm on strike and will go on strike from 5 pm on Wednesday.
The resident doctors have made major demands to the government to increase their stipend and give it on time, build a new hostel, and repair the existing hostel, MARD has said in a statement. Emergency services will continue during the strike.
In this regard, the President of the MARD Association, Dr Nikhil Gattani said, "We have been trying for the last several months to make our demands. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to the patients. Immediate service will continue during the strike. There are 23 medical colleges in the state and there are 6,500 to 7,000 resident doctors. All of them will participate in the strike."