The group of junior doctors, belonging to the Medical College Democratic Students Association, has alleged that hospital authorities are backing their rival SFI and allotting hostel accommodation to the group’s students by depriving ordinary students.

“We have undertaken emergency measures, including deputing more senior doctors at the Out Patients Departments (OPDs) and wards so that services are not hampered. But some services have been hampered. We are trying to hold talks with the agitating students,” said A N Biswas, deputy superintendent of the hospital.

Patients who thronged the OPDs since the morning were at the receiving end of the strike, as there were long queues at various departments. A majority of the patients had to return without receiving any medical attention or had to move to other hospitals.

The situation in various wards of the hospital was no different. With a few nurses and a handful of senior doctors, patients did not get any adequate attention from the medical staff.

Following the clash at the hostel, the authorities have told the students to vacate their rooms. Apart from boycotting their in-house duties, the students have also boycotted classes. Four among them — Arkojyoti Mukherjee, Ratul Banerjee, Subarna Sinha Mahapatra and Bijon Tudu — have started an indefinite hungerstrike.

At present, around 150 students are taking shelter at the hostel’s common room.

“Our agitation will continue. There was a long-standing dispute regarding seats in the main hostel, which the authorities

allotted to the SFI supporters. We protested and yesterday SFI goons beat us up. Some of our fellow students were injured,” said Arkojyoti, one of the agitating junior doctors.

“The authorities, instead of punishing the SFI