'No point sacrificing lives for politicians'

All India Institute of Medical Sciences doctors have converted their indefinite hunger strike to protest the passage in Parliament of the Other Backward Classes reservation bill to a relay fast and said they may move Supreme Court and President A P J Abdul Kalam to stall the enactment of the legislation.

The 15 executive body members of the AIIMS Resident Doctors' Association have broken their fast that began on Thursday night and 15 other doctors have begun the hunger strike, AIIMS RDA President Kumar Harsh said on Tuesday.

"We have decided to go on a relay fast rather than an indefinite hunger strike," he said, adding: "There is no point in sacrificing our lives for the politicians, who will not give up on eyeing short term electoral gains."

Harsh said the AIIMS RDA and other students' organisations were planning to approach the President on the issue and could also move Supreme Court.

"There are already cases in the apex Court on the quota issue and the same would have to be considered before enacting the law," he said.

As many as 15 doctors were on a hunger strike since Thursday night when the bill providing 27 per cent reservations for OBCs in government-aided educational institutions was passed in Lok Sabha. Ten others had joined them on Friday and Saturday.

The bill was passed in Rajya Sabha by a voice vote on Monday. The fasting doctors were attending duty in the hospital despite showing sign of weakness. Services in the premier healthcare institution have not been affected by the strike and patients are being attended to, hospital authorities said.