Odisha Health Min urges VIMSAR students to call off stir

Bhubaneswar: Even as deadlock continued in Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) at Burla, Odisha Health and Family Welfare Minister Pratap Jena today urged agitating medicos to first withdraw their stir and join work.

The Minister, however, added that the issue can be later resolved through dialogue.

“Few student representatives had met me over the issue and we had discussed the matter. I told them to first call off their strike and join work. Then they can discuss the matter with me. I told them that we will certainly take care of whatever problems they had,” said Jena speaking to reporters on the VIMSAR issue here.

Postgraduate students of VIMSAR continued with their indefinite cease-work for the third consecutive day today in protest against Director Aswini Pujahari’s alleged high-handedness.

PG students, who are on cease-work since Sunday, remained adamant seeking removal of Pujahari or their relocation elsewhere.

Apart from undergraduate students of VIMSAR, PG students, undergraduates, house surgeons, senior residents of SCB Medical College & Hospital, Cuttack and MKCG Medical College & Hospital, Berhampur have come out in support of the agitation by wearing black badges.

The agitation is apprehended to affect health services in the three state government run medical colleges in the state.

Notably, a meeting called by Sambalpur legislator Raseswari Panigrahi on Monday evening which was attended by Pujahari, VIMSAR Superintendent, Sambalpur Collector, SP  and representatives of the agitating students failed to make any breakthrough.