MP: Junior Doctors End Week-Long Strike After Meeting Govt, Assured 17% Stipend Hike

Bhopal: Around 3,000 junior doctors in Madhya Pradesh, who were on strike since a week over their various demands, called off their protest on Monday after a meeting with state Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang.

"They have ended their strike unconditionally," Sarang told PTI.

The minister on Sunday said the government has already agreed to give a hike of 17% in stipend to them.

The junior doctors from six medical colleges across MP were protesting since last Monday for a hike in their stipend and free COVID-19 treatment for them and their family members.

A delegation of MP Junior Doctors Association (JUDA) met Sarang, seeking a written order from the state government for fulfilling their demands.

"We have ended our protest after meeting Sarangji," MP JUDA president Arvind Meena told PTI.

The development came ahead of a hearing in the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday over a petition regarding the junior doctors' strike.

The HC's bench at Jabalpur last Thursday termed the strike as "illegal" and directed the junior doctors to resume their duties within 24 hours.

However, the protesting doctors then remained defiant.

They had demanded that beds for junior doctors serving COVID-19 patients be reserved in separate areas in case they contract the infection, he said.

Treatment should be free for such doctors as well as their kin, Meena had said, adding that they also wanted a hike in stipend.

A doctor from the government-run Hamidia Hospital in Bhopal said health services were affected because the protest by junior doctors.

Earlier, the junior doctors went on a strike on May 6, but resumed a few hours later after the state government assured them that their demands would be met.