Resident doctors go on strike in Rajasthan over NEET PG counselling delay

Jaipur: Resident doctors in Rajasthan went on a strike on Monday night, urging the government to fulfil their eight demands. The strike is set to affect medical services, including emergencies in state hospitals. "All the resident doctors have gone on a strike tonight against the government's apathy towards our demands," said Pukhraj Pahadia, the vice-president of the Jaipur Association of Resident Doctors.

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Resident doctors in medical colleges in Kota, Udaipur, Ajmer, Jhalawar, Bikaner and Jodhpur also went on strike, he said. Their demands included efforts by the state government to coordinate with the Centre to resolve issues regarding NEET PG counselling at the earliest, reducing burden on residents among others.

He said that resident doctors are engaged in works related to Chiranjeevi Health Insurance Scheme and the Bhamashah scheme due to which they get less time for studies and for attending patients in hospitals. Pahadia said that resident doctors should be disengaged from scheme-related works completely so that they can focus on studies.

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The resident doctors of the Centre-run RML, Safdarjung and Lady Hardinge hospitals have also boycotted all routine and emergency services from Monday in support of a nationwide protest called by the Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) against the delay in NEET-PG 2021 counselling.