In India, 3,000 doctors just resigned after a court tried to block them from striking

Doctors have vowed to continue strike till their demands are met

The association of junior doctors in Madhya Pradesh announced that they will approach the Supreme Court of India against the decision of the Madhya Pradesh High court (Screengrab/NDTV)

Nearly 3,000 doctors have resigned in India after a court tried to block them from holding a strike.

On Thursday, the High Court in Madhya Pradesh, a central Indian state, termed the four-day-old strike of junior doctors “illegal” and directed them to return to duties by Friday afternoon. But the defiant doctors resigned from their posts and announced their plans of challenging the ruling.

Madhya Pradesh Junior Doctors Association (MPJDA) President Dr Arvind Meena said nearly 3,000 junior doctors working in the six government medical colleges of the state resigned en masse and submitted their resignations to the dean of their respective colleges, reported NDTV.

He said that junior and senior doctors of other states such Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Bihar, Maharashtra and others are supporting their strike.

Dr Meena said the MPJDA will approach the Supreme Court of India against the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s decision and claimed that members of the Federation of Resident Doctors Association and Medical Officers Association will also join their strike.

The doctors began their strike on Monday and he said they will continue till their demands are fulfilled. The junior doctors have made several demands including a hike in stipend and free Covid-19 treatment for them and their families.

However, the court had condemned their decision to go on strike at the time of Covid-19 and said that the government must take stern action if doctors fail to resume their duties.

Dr Meena said that on 6 May they were promised by the state government that their demand will be fulfilled but when nothing happened they were forced to stop work.

The government had decided to hike their stipend by 17 per cent but he said the strike will continue until the government raised ikt by 24 per cent, which was promised.