The doctors have accused the government of not heeding to their demands, like attending to problems of in-service doctors, harassment by police authorities in various regions, transfer of government doctors arbitrarily more by way of punishment than for administrative exigencies, and harassment over degree registration.

The doctors say they are also harassed for alleged complicity in the use of disposable medical equipment, one perceived reason for the outbreak of hepatitis B in the state.

A recent incident of doctors in Rajkot being manhandled by the police has also sent a wave of anger among the doctors in the state. Indian Medical Association (IMA) vice-president Dr Dilip Gadhavi has said: “The government’s intentions may be well-meaning, but its actions (and inaction), have left the doctors a demoralised lot. Despite all promises, nothing seems to be coming out in concrete.”

On supporting any political outfit during the elections, he said doctors had acted on their own conscience. Besides the allopathic doctors, a vast majority of ayurveda and homoeopathy doctors have also been browbeaten into submission after they took out a rally in Gandhinagar where they had pointed out to the government’s “dual standards”. They said the government acknowledged them as doctors when it came to forming the doctors’ cell and called them charlatans when it required taking steps against them. Dr Bharat Amin said that wrongdoers should be punished irrespective of affiliations, but at the same time, the government need not act at the eleventh hour. The Congress doctors’ cell is in a state of disarray in the absence of convener Dr Vidyut Desai, who is, at present, on a tour to the US. GPCC president Siddharth Patel did not respond to any phone calls.