Despite holding talks with the Directorate of Medical Education (DMER) on Tuesday, resident doctors will continue their agitation, citing the need for better security on hospital grounds. On the first day of the strike, senior resident doctors and professors stepped in to ensure that hospital services were not disrupted as their counterparts across public health facilities in the city protested in response to the rape and murder case in Kolkata.

At KEM hospital, Dr Kartik Mudaliar, a surgery resident, said the hospital decided to discharge stable patients to manage manpower during the strike. “We held a brief protest in the morning and then returned to emergency duties. Patients were not inconvenienced, and we managed with the available resources,” he said.