Chennai: Medical students in Tamil Nadu today temporarily withdrawn their 15-day strike, called to protest against the Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss's proposal making one year rural service mandatory for MBBS degree, following an appeal from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. The strike, which was termed as politically motivated by Ramadoss, was called off today after the students met State Health Minister MRK Panneerselvam.

"We have called off the strike only temporarily as our future course will depend on the action taken by the Centre on the Sambasiva Rao commitee (formed to take opinions of stakeholders)," T Janakiraman, convener of the Federation of Students of Medical Colleges in Tamil Nadu, an umbrella organisation which spearheaded the protest, told PTI. He said students of all the 14 medical colleges in the state started attending their classes today.

"Since the Chief Minister himself has promised to take the issue up with the Centre, we have called off the indefinite strike," he said. Yesterday, Karunanidhi in a statement said students should not waste their time as the expert committee has not yet submitted its report. He said though the "confusion" could have been created by Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss statements favouring the proposal despite constitution of a committee, the students should welcome his assurance that a final decision would be taken only after getting the panel s report.

Barring Ramadoss s PMK party, the Medicos strike was backed by the ruling DMK and all major parties in the state including the AIADMK and the Left. However, their strike failed to make an impact at the all India level as medicos of other states had not joined in a big way.

Source : PTI