Gorakhpur: Doctors at BRD Hospital call off strike

Junior doctors at the BRD Medical College Hospital in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh have called off their two-day strike after assurance from authorities that their demands for better security and facilities will be met.

Medical services were restored on Friday at the hospital, grappling with the influx of Encephalitis patients from eastern UP, after the strike was called of Thursday night.

The strike was called off after District Magistrate Sanjay Kumar and College Principal R K Singh had talks with junior doctors and assured them that their demands will be met in a time-bound manner.

The residents or junior doctors went on strike on Tuesday when agitated relatives of a patient, who had died during treatment, clashed with the medicos.

The striking doctors were demanding better security in the campus, including a ban on firearms and restricted entry through passes in the college, apart from better facilities at the hospital.

BRD Medical College is main hospital catering to encephalitis patients and saw a visit by Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on October 20. Encephalitis has claimed 537 lives in eastern Uttar Pradesh this year.