Delhi resident doctors’ groups threaten complete shutdown of medical services, allege brutal police crackdown

A massive doctors’ protest has begun in Delhi as resident doctors’ group on Monday threatened a complete shutdown of medical services.

This comes after the alleged brutal police crackdown on their protest against the delay in college allotments after NEET postgraduate exams.

The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) alleged that several doctors who were participating in a march from the Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) campus to the Supreme Court were manhandled and thrashed by police, a charge that they deny.

Dr Anuj Aggarwal, general secretary of the Safdarjung RDA, said the police crackdown on a peaceful protest was uncalled for and it would lead to more protests. Meanwhile, Delhi police said that they have detained 12 doctors who were protesting at the ITO junction. Police claimed that seven policemen were injured during the whole incident.

FORDA said 4,000 of its members ended a sit-in at the Sarojini Nagar police station around midnight on Monday to adhere to night curfew. The association has also alleged that they had been stopped from marching towards the Health Ministry’s offices earlier in the day. FORDA has been spearheading the protest for a month now.

In solidarity with the protesting doctors, the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) has called upon all RDAs associated with it as well as other doctors’ associations across India for complete shutdown of healthcare services from Wednesday.

The AIIMS Resident Doctors’ Association has come out in support of FORDA, saying it shall shut down all non-emergency services on Wednesday if no adequate response is received from the government within 24 hours. If a decision is not made on expediting NEET-PG counselling soon, protests may intensify further, sources said.