The Central Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (Central MARD) on Wednesday announced intensification of its state-wide agitation from 12 midnight on August 6, stating that the decision was taken after repeated discussions and representations to the Maharashtra government failed to yield any concrete outcome on their long-pending demands. On Wednesday, the OPD in Government as well as private hospitals was affected. Referring to a communication from the Secretary, Medical Education, Central MARD said it has formally informed Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis about the escalation of the democratic protest. Under the intensified agitation, resident doctors (MD/MS/DNB) posted at Government Medical Colleges and Hospitals under the Medical Education and Public Health Departments will suspend all routine clinical, academic and non-life-saving emergency services until further notice.

 

Services to be suspended: The services that will remain suspended include routine outpatient department (OPD) services, routine inpatient department (IPD) services and ward rounds, elective surgeries and procedures, academic activities, Central Laboratory services and Fever OPDs. Emergency services to continue uninterrupted However, Central MARD clarified that all emergency and life-saving healthcare services will continue uninterrupted. These include casualty and emergency services, trauma care, intensive care units (ICUs), labour rooms, emergency surgeries and other life-saving procedures, Emergency Laboratory (E-Lab), Blood Bank services and all other critical emergency services. Patients requiring immediate life-saving intervention, as determined by the treating resident doctor, will continue to receive treatment.

 

Expressing regret over the inconvenience to patients, Central MARD said the escalation became unavoidable as repeated representations, prior notices and constructive dialogue with the government failed to produce a meaningful response. The association reiterated that no patient requiring life-saving treatment would be denied emergency medical care during the agitation. The protest has received support from Association of State Medical Interns (ASMI), Maharashtra State Medical Teachers Association (MSMTA), Maharashtra Association of Gazetted Medical Officers (MAGMO), and the Indian Medical Association (IMA). Dr Ashutosh Ade, General Secretary, Central MARD and Dr Shubham Nagare, President, IGGMCH MARD, and said the organisation hopes the Government will resolve the issue without further disruption to healthcare services. 

 

 

Indian Medical Association (IMA), Maharashtra State, has announced its support to MARD strike. The agitation follows protests by the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD). Modern medicine practitioners argue that the Maharashtra Medical Council was established to regulate practitioners qualified in modern (allopathic) medicine and contend that granting MMC registration to BHMS graduates after completing a Certificate Course in Modern Pharmacology (CCMP) would fundamentally alter the council's regulatory framework. IMA maintain that although both MBBS and BHMS admissions require NEET qualification, the two programmes follow different curricula and training pathways. According to them, a bridge course cannot be considered equivalent to the comprehensive 5 and a half years MBBS programme, which includes extensive clinical training and a compulsory internship.