The junior doctors’ strike in Bihar came to an end on its fifth day on Friday after chief minister Nitish Kumar met the doctors’ representatives and assured to take steps for their protection. At least 50 patients died due to lack of medical attention due to the strike in the five days.
Apart from assurances from Mr Kumar, what prompted the junior doctors in Bihar’s six medical colleges and hospitals to resume work was the surrender of the RJD legislator blamed for the strike, Surendra Kumar Yadav, at the CJM’s court in Gaya on Friday. Mr Yadav, whose appeal for anticipatory bail was rejected by the court on Thursday, was sent to jail on a 14-day remand. His arrest was on top of the striking doctors’ four demands.
Bihar BJP president C.P. Thakur, himself a well-known doctor and a former Union health minister, and state DGP Neelmani were present when the chief minister met a five-member delegation of the Bihar Junior Doctors’ Association to hear their grievances. Dr Shahajanand, vice-president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), was also present.
“The chief minister promised to see how the doctors’ security at the hospitals could be increased in a practical manner so that incidents like the latest one that angered them and caused this strike could be avoided. The CM also discussed a host of critical issues concerning medical education,” said Dr Thakur after the meeting.
The embattled Opposition RJD legislator Yadav, a four-term MLA from Belaganj in Gaya district, said before surrendering, “I am surrendering because I could no longer bear to see the growing numbers of deaths of poor patients. My bodyguards had fired on a group of violent junior doctors to save my life.