Chennai, May 10: Ignoring the state government's warning, government doctors today joined the agitation by medical college students against privatisation of medical colleges, by abstaining from performing 'elective' surgeries, partially affecting health services across the state. Expressing solidarity with agitating medical students, members of Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association did not perform 'elective' surgeries today. However, emergency surgeries and the Outpatients Departments were not affected, association sources said here.

Today's agitation is part of an action plan announced by the association to press the government to drop its move to allow private medical colleges. On May 14, the doctors would resort to a one-day strike and if the need arose an indefinite strike would be called from May 21, sources said. The government had warned that ESMA would be invoked against doctors if they went ahead with their strike plan, saying they were in no way connected with the demands of medical students, whose agitation entered the 17th day, today.

Even as the number of outpatients attending government hospitals and health centres dropped considerably, an official spokesman claimed that between 20 and 25 per cent doctors did not attend to surgeries. Meanwhile, Dean of General Hospital here, the biggest in the state, Dr Vijayalakshmi told reporters that all doctors and nurses had reported for duty and all departments in the hospital functioned normally.

Bureau Report