Chennai: Medical services in Tamil Nadu government hospitals and health centres continued to be affected as the stir by Medical students against opening new private colleges entered its 27th day on May 19, even as some of the suspended city students signed bonds not to participate in strikes in future.

The Director of Medical Education C Ravindranath claimed that Medical and Dental students had started returning to classes, even as the suspended students said they were contemplating moving the court against their suspensions.

Of the 5,000 students suspended by the Directorate of Medical Education, 1,200 have been debarred from appearing for their semester examinations.

A Coimbatore report said that suspension orders against 93 CRRIs (Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internees) and 506 UG students had been received by the Coimbatore Medical College and would be served on them at the earliest.

Health Department sources claimed that health services in government hospitals in the city were being carried on uninterrupted with the help of newly recruited doctors and those drawn from the Chennai Corporation.

Meanwhile, recruitment of doctors registered with employment exchanges in the state continued again on May 19,the sources said. A petition challenging the strike by medicos is likely to be heard on May 20.

Besides privatisation of medical education, the students are protesting against hike in tuition fees and suspension of stipend paid to them.

PTI