7,000 resident doctors in Maharashtra to go on strike today

Mumbai Senior resident doctors from all across the state and junior resident doctors from BMC-run hospitals have declared to go on strike from today. However, the doctors have said they will only continue to do emergency duties after this because the government has not fulfilled several of their long-standing demands including creating new posts for senior residents, dearness allowance in accordance to the seventh pay commission, payment of covid service arrears and proper accommodation facilities for all resident doctors.

Around 7,000 doctors are expected to join the strike. The Maharashtra Association of Residents Doctors (MARD) which consists of junior resident doctors announced that junior resident doctors attached to Cooper Hospital, KEM Hospital, Nair Hospital and Sion Hospital will withdraw from non-emergency duties from Monday if their demand are not fulfilled. Similarly, Maharashtra Association of Bonded Resident Doctors (MABARD) said they will also join the MARD strike for their own issues. Across Maharashtra, thousands of elective surgeries are likely to be put on hold, while outpatient departments may see serpentine queues as senior doctors will be single-handedly managing them.