Resident doctors at Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) began a boycott of emergency services from 9 a.m. today, intensifying their ongoing protest against a hike in postgraduate course fees.
The decision followed the expiry of a five-day deadline given to the administration to roll back the increased fees. After no resolution was reached, the Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) convened a general body meeting and unanimously decided to include emergency services in the strike, which initially began with a boycott of routine services on May 21.
The tuition fee for the three-year postgraduate course was raised from ¹ 1 lakh to ¹ 3 lakhs for students admitted from the October 2022 batch. The RDA has called the hike unjust and has demanded immediate restoration of the original fee structure.
Despite the strike, the RDA reiterated its commitment to the healthcare needs of the people and assured that critical cases would still receive necessary care. The protest will continue until the fee structure is reverted, with no timeline yet on when normal services will resume.