Imphal: Patient care at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) in Manipur is poised to face further disruption as resident doctors, currently on strike over a postgraduate course fee hike, announced a complete boycott of emergency services starting 9 am on Monday, May 26. This escalation comes after the administration failed to roll back the increased tuition fee, prompting the Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) to intensify their agitation.
The ongoing protest, which began with a boycott of routine services on May 21, is a direct response to a significant jump in the three-year postgraduate course fee. For batches commencing from October 2022 onwards, the annual tuition has been hiked from a reasonable Rs 1 lakh to a substantial Rs 3 lakhs, a decision the RDA has vehemently opposed as unjust and burdensome.
The five-day deadline extended to the JNIMS administration to revert to the original fee structure expired without any positive resolution. This inaction led to a crucial general body meeting of all postgraduate doctors, where a unanimous decision was reached to broaden the scope of the strike to include the critical emergency services, leaving patients in a lurch.
While the RDA expressed deep awareness of Manipur’s healthcare needs and assured the public of their commitment to providing essential care in urgent situations, the indefinite nature of the strike until the original fee structure is reinstated leaves the resumption of normal services uncertain.
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