By IANS
Hyderabad : After a six-day strike, junior doctors in government-run hospitals in Andhra Pradesh Thursday returned to work with the police force deployed in six major city hospitals for their protection.
The Andhra Pradesh Junior Doctors’ Association (APJDA) called off the strike late Wednesday after two rounds of talks with Home Minister K. Jana Reddy, who offered to favourably consider their plea for posting policemen in 14 other hospitals in the state.
The home minister, however, turned down their other demand for the arrest of two legislators of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) allegedly involved in the recent attacks on junior doctors at two city hospitals. The home minister said necessary action would be taken in both cases.
The strike was called off hours after the government invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA).
The order, invoking the ESMA, will be in effect for six months, which means that the junior doctors cannot go on strike during this period.
The ESMA order was issued after the deadline set by the government for the junior doctors to call off their strike ended Wednesday morning.
Under the ESMA, the government may arrest doctors without warrant for failing to return to work.
The junior doctors were on strike despite the government Monday deciding to bring an ordinance to make any attack on them a non-bailable offence, punishable with imprisonment up to three years.
The strike had begun last Friday when junior doctors were attacked by relatives of a woman prisoner who died during the treatment at Government Maternity Hospital.
Earlier, an attack on doctors at the Niloufer Children’s Hospital here on Dec 2 by MIM legislator Afsar Khan and his supporters had sparked an indefinite strike. The 11-day strike, which allegedly resulted in the death of 40 children at the hospital, was called off last Wednesday following a threat from the high court to initiate penal action against striking doctors.