The doctors are demanding a hike in their salary as per the Sixth Pay Commission and inclusion of non-practicing allowance in their salaries.

The resident doctors in Agra, meanwhile, called off their strike on Sunday, following assurance from the hospital administration to meet their demands.

Earlier, the protesting doctors were given a warning to join work by 8 pm on Sunday or face ESMA (Essential

Service Maintenance Act). The college principals had called the doctors for a meeting, but they refused to meet any official below the rank of secretary.

“We had told them earlier that if they do not resume work they should be ready to face ESMA and contempt of court. The government has asked us to issue them a

24-hour notice or their services will be terminated,” said Dr P C Saxena, Principal of Allahabad’s Moti Lal Nehru Medical College. “Their conduct will amount to contempt of court, as last year in a similar case, the Allahabad High Court had asked the doctors to resume work,” he added.

Services in these medical colleges, meanwhile, continued to be affected.

Of the 1,100 beds in Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital (LLR), Kanpur, less than 10 per cent were occupied on Sunday. The bed occupancy in wards of other departments like surgery, pediatrics, ophthalmology and burn unit was also low.

Eighty-year-old Kali Bahadur was the only patient admitted in the eight-bedded ICU. An asthma patient, Rashida said: “The services are extremely poor. No proper attention is given to the patients. In the absence of JRs, senior doctors visit the ward only once a day.” Chamanganj resident Dilshan, who came to meet his ailing cousin, said: “Only poor patients are still here. Others have moved to private hospitals.”

The JRs, however, remained adamant on their stand. Pushepndra, a doctor at Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College (GSVMMC), said: “ESMA or no ESMA, our demands are genuine, therefore the struggle will continue.”

Citing the example of recent work boycott by JRs in June, he said: “That time, too, the authorities had given us a verbal assurance, but no official decision was taken.” “During our previous work boycott, we had started a parallel OPD for the patients,” he said.