Patient care services in government and civic hospitals may get derailed today as 7,000 resident doctors across the state have decided to go on a mass leave over their demands. Maharashtra State Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) has decided to stop all services with the exception of emergency services. In view of the call for strike, hospitals have made special arrangements to deal with the situation.

Resident doctors have been in correspondence with the government for years over their demands which include equal pay and dearness allowance. As the government is not paying heed, they have once again resorted to mass leave. Central MARD President Dr Avinash Dahipale said, “We have to take this step to make the government wake up. We had warned them a week ago that if our demands were not met, we would go on a mass strike, but no one from the government has started a discussion with us yet.”