Medicos Hold Talks With Prime Minister, Continue Strike

The anti-reservation medicos in India Friday held their first direct talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and decided to continue their strike.

Singh had an hour-long meeting with the medicos during which he told them that he foresees a massive expansion of the higher education system which would see a huge growth in the educational opportunities available to all classes and categories of students.

The Prime Minister assured the medicos that they need not be worried over shrinking educational opportunities as he foresaw a massive expansion of the higher education system.

'The Prime Minister assured them (medicos) that the roadmap laid down in the decision of the UPA Coordination Committee addressed the concerns of all categories of students,' Singh's Media Advisor Sanjaya Baru told reporters.

The Prime Minister told the students that the technical experts groups being set up under the Oversight Committee will examine ways and means of expanding capacities and the government was committed to the expansion, Baru said.

He said the students could also give their specific suggestions to these committees.

The students presented Singh a charter of demands and expressed their concerns about the future of their fellow students, Baru said.

Immediately after the meeting with the Prime Minister, the General Body Meeting of resident doctors and medical students met for two hours and decided to continue their strike that began on May 14.

Late into the night, the medicos held discussions with union Health Secretary P K Hota at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) campus here.

Source:PTI News