Saturday, May 13, 2006
Quota issue: Medicos launch nationwide strike
The medicos' anti-reservation stir gained momentum on Saturday with resident doctors joining students in striking work in the national capital and several other cities, causing hardship for thousands of patients at state-run hospitals.
In Mumbai, police mercilessly beat students including women who had gathered peacefully and blocked traffic on the busy Walkeshwar Road leading to the Governor's and Chief Minister's residences to protest against the Centre's move to have 27 per cent reservations for OBCs in elite educational institutions.
Policemen were seen dragging and caning several students. Over a dozen students were injured in the police action and two dozen were detained.
The functioning of five government hospitals in Delhi, including the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), was paralysed as resident doctors did not report for duty. Hundreds of patients and their kin were seen desperately looking for help.
