Bihar junior doctors on strike, legislator’s guards held

PATNA - Health services in Bihar were severely hit as junior doctors in all six government-run hospitals struck work Monday, demanding action against a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) legislator and his bodyguard who fired at three interns of a Gaya hospital. Police said two guards were held and that the legislator would also be arrested soon.

Three interns of the Anugrah Narain Magadh Medical College Hospital (ANMCH) in Gaya, about 100 km from here, were injured Sunday night when a security guard of opposition RJD legislator Surendra Prasad Yadav fired at them after a scuffle over the treatment of a woman patient.

“Junior doctors of all the six government medical colleges and hospitals in Bihar have joined the strike in support of the ANMCH doctors,” said Raman Kumar, a leader of the junior doctors association.

Doctors of the Patna Medical College and Hospital, Nalanda Medical College and Hospital, Bhagalpur Medical College and Hospital, Darbhanga Medical College, and Muzaffarpur Medical College have joined the strike.

According to police officials, some supporters of Yadav manhandled doctors at the emergency ward over the treatment of a woman patient. After doctors protested, some supporters of the RJD legislator threatened them and Yadav’s security guard opened fire, injuring three interns.

Soon, relatives of other patients and locals joined the protesting doctors and torched a police jeep.

The functioning of the ANMCH was paralysed late Sunday night following the incident and the doctors struck work, demanding action against Yadav and his security guard.