Jammu, Aug 3: Medical services at prestigious Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) Jammu and its allied hospitals remained paralyzed on second consecutive day as junior doctors continued with their strike on Wednesday.
 Junior doctors are demanding withdrawal of magisterial inquiry into the alleged negligence resulting to the death of class 12th student, Sukhbir Singh who was stabbed to death by two students at Shastri Nagar on July 30.
 The junior doctors are also demanding action against the former councilor and Congress leader Surinder Singh Shingari, alleging that he had “instigated” the family members and relatives for violent protests inside the hospital.
 “Junior doctors at GMCH and allied hospitals including Shri Maharaja Gluab Singh (SMGS) abstained from their duties and staged demonstrations, demanding withdrawal of government order for conducting a magisterial inquiry into the death of Sukhbir Singh and necessary security arrangements at emergency to prevent doctor-attendant clashes,” sources said.
 The government has however toughened its stand and warned the junior doctors for strict action if they did not resume their duties at the earliest.
 “There are some miscreants among the doctors who are creating troubles and are instigating doctors for strike and protests. These doctors have been identified and the government would not tolerate such illegal and illogical strikes,” Minister for Medical Education R S Chib told reporters on Tuesday evening.
 Meanwhile, patients and their attendants had a harrowing time as junior doctors did not attend to patients of the outdoor and in-door. The worst affected were the patients who were admitted in different wards at GMCH and SMGS.
 “Junior doctors who were the life-line of GMCH did not turn up to their duties and abstained from their work. Since morning, patients were not examined and attendants were made to move from pillar to post for medical services of their near ones at GMCH,” Girdhari Lal, a attendant told Greater Kashmir.
 The GMCH authorities however said that there was no strike at GMCH and its allied hospitals and all departments were functioning normally. Junior doctors had resumed their work at emergency on Tuesday afternoon after the invention of GMCH principal Rajinder Singh.
 They however threatened to intensify their agitation after 48-hour long token strike if the administration did not revoke the magisterial probe and made adequate security measures at GMCH Jammu.
 The administration constituted a committee headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner Sheetal Nanda to conduct an inquiry into the incident. The committee has been asked to submit its report within 15 days.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 3 Aug 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 3 Aug 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 4 Aug 2011 00:00:00 IST