By IANS,
Hyderabad : Emergency services in government-run hospitals in Andhra Pradesh were restored Wednesday as the junior doctors called off their strike after the government promised to address their problems.
The junior doctors, who were on strike for over a month and had been boycotting emergency services since Feb 10, called off the strike after marathon talks with Medical Education Minister Kondru Murali.
The talks began Tuesday night and continued till Wednesday morning.
The leaders of the Andhra Pradesh Junior Doctors Association (APJDA) said they were temporarily calling off their strike. They promised to withdraw the stir after getting a written assurance from the government to fulfill their demands.
The junior doctors want a 40 percent hike in their stipend and reduced compulsory service in rural areas from three years to one year. The government has accepted 11 of the 13 demands.
The strike had about 3,000 medicos paralyse emergency services in 10 major teaching hospitals across the state, causing inconvenience to patients.
As many as 40 patients died Friday and Saturday but the government claimed the deaths were not because of the strike. It claimed to have made alternate arrangements by using the services of senior doctors from other hospitals.