Doctors to pay for deaths during strike: HC

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Friday asked authorities to penalize doctors responsible for the strike in King George’s Medical University (KGMU) that caused undue harassment of hundreds of patients and pay Rs 25 lakh compensation each to the families who lost their dear ones allegedly due to negligence.
In a strong worded order on a public interest litigation (PIL) against the strike, the court said that doctors in public funded institutions have no legal right to strike and directed the state government to come up with a strict policy to deter doctors from striking work in future. The court said that such strikes justify major penalty and also criminal and tortuous liability if any patient suffers on account of such action of doctors.
The court asked the state government to form a high level committee to probe the matter within two months. If deaths are found to have taken place due to strike, Rs 25 lakh compensation be given to each family who lost a member and the compensation be deducted from the salaries/stipend/allowances of the striking doctors. Principals of state medical college and the vice chancellor of KGMU have been directed to identify those who had been on strike and deny them allowances, salary and honorarium as also extend their training period by the duration of striking period.
KGMU junior doctors (post graduate students) were on strike from May 30 to protest state government’s decision to conduct fresh admissions in post graduate courses in state medical colleges. Admissions were done in April on the basis of Uttar Pradesh Medical Entrance Examination (UPPGMEE) 2016 but were cancelled on May 26 following Supreme Court order which directed state government to conduct admissions afresh after allotting up to 30% additional marks to candidates of Provincial Medical Health Services (PMHS) who have served in rural areas.
The strike was called off on June 2 after court pulled up authorities after hearing the PIL filed by a local lawyer Moti Lal Yadav against the strike. Friday’s order was on the same PIL.