Chandigarh, October 18
After an assurance from the PGI administration to look into the matter, about 800 resident doctors, who were on a mass casual leave today, called off their agitation.
Sources said the PGI administration had reportedly given a direction to “restrict” the participation of Dr Santosh, assistant professor, in academics and other activities of the institute following an assault on Dr Sanand.
“The administration has given verbal assurance to restrict his involvement in the PGI activities,” a senior resident confirmed.
During a late evening meeting with the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), the PGI administration assured it that the inquiry committee’s report had been forwarded to the higher authorities and promised to arrange a meeting of the association members with the union health secretary.
Dr Amod Gupta, a member of the disciplinary committee of the PGI, said the PGI director could not “punish” any doctor. “This is not under his purview. The matter has been referred to the health ministry for further action,” he said.
The PGI administration had issued a notice of no work, no pay to all resident doctors in the morning. The ARD president, Dr Prabhushankar, said they would pursue the matter with the governing body of the PGI after meeting the union health secretary.
Earlier, patient care services were badly hit in some departments of the PGI as doctors went on mass casual leave. However, the emergency and ICU services were functioning normally.
Out patient department (OPD) sections wore a deserted look with locked rooms and empty corridors. The psychiatry and urology OPDs were badly hit as no doctor turned up in the morning at the OPD.
It was chaotic when over 100 patients gathered at OPDs, not knowing that the doctors were on leave.