NO strike at Medical Colleges: Maharashtra Education department proposes legal amendment

Mumbai: Facing severe hardships after medical practitioners in medical colleges of the state go on a strike, Medical Education Department has now proposed a solution to bring medical colleges under ESMA. As per the proposal, all medical practitioners in the government-run medical colleges will be governed by the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA), 2017.

TOI reports that the Medical Education Department, has sent a proposal to the Chief Minister's office to bring in Medical colleges under the purview of MESMA. If approved, all medical officers, resident doctors, nursing staffs, technicians and all employees working in government-led medical colleges will be bound to work according to the proposed law and call of any strike by them would be illegal

The Maharashtra ESMA Act came into being in the year 2012. As per the act, Any person who commences a strike which is illegal under the Act or goes or remains on, or otherwise takes part in, any such strike shall, on conviction, be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees, or with both. Bringing in medical colleges under the act would mean, that their employees cannot go on strike.

The proposal has been forwarded to the CM office for approval, a senior bureaucrat told TOI, “We are awaiting the approval of chief minister Devendra Fadnavisfor our proposal. Once it comes, we will issue a notification. All offences under the act are cognisable and non-bailable."

The rationale of the move comes from the fact that during strikes at medical colleges, essential medical services are disrupted and patients suffer

A senior bureaucrat told the daily, "We found that strikes at government-run medical colleges are quite frequent. As a result, even routine services at these institutions get crippled. Under such circumstances, we felt it was time all services at government-run medical colleges are governed by MESMA. Once a notification is issued, staff will be restrained from resorting to strike action."