New Delhi: The strike called by AIIMS doctors in protest against the passage of a bill restricting the retirement age of its Director at 65 years on Thursday saw muted response with the medicos backing institution head P Venugopal abstaining from work while those opposing him attending OPD and other services.
By and large the OPDs functioned normally with only some doctors who want the present Director to continue in office staying away from work.
The AIIMS administration led by Medical Superintendent DK Sharma had, following the Supreme Court orders, asked the resident doctors to refrain from striking work.
"All OPDs are functioning normally. There is no problem at all. I am supervising the OPDs operations," Sharma said, adding "a few doctors have boycotted (the OPDs)".
The strike was called by Resident Welfare Association on Wednesday when the AIIMS Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha amid wide protests from opposition benches.
Anil Sharma, General Secretary, RDA, AIIMS, said, "We have boycotted the OPDs and the future course of action would be decided at a GoM later today".
The bill seeks to restrict the age of the AIIMS Director at 65 years. The move may pave the way for removal of Venugopal from the post. Union Health Minister A Ramdoss has been in the last two-and-a-half years locked in a turf war with Venugopal.
