Nearly 16,000 government doctors across Madhya Pradesh went off-duty for two hours on Thursday morning to protest what they called “bureaucratic interference in their work and promotions” and threatened to go on an indefinite strike from Friday if their demands are not met.

The doctors from state-run medical colleges, hospitals and primary health centres struck work between 10 am and 12 noon, said a doctor’s body leading the agitation.?

MP Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang could not be immediately contacted as he was busy with a function. State Health Minister Dr Prabhuram Choudhary also couldn’t be reached despite repeated calls.

“Even junior doctors and those in other government hospitals have joined us. Around 16,000 government doctors across the state joined our 2-hour work-abstaining move,” Dr Avinash Thakur, general secretary of the Medical Teachers’ Association in Bhopal, told PTI.

According to the protesting doctors, bureaucrats often prevail upon them to operate and treat patients according to their wishes.?“If things do not improve, we are going to abstain from work from tomorrow,” he said.

Thakur said that they also want the implementation of an all-India doctor promotion policy in the state. “MP is the only state in the country that is not following the Dynamic Assured Career Progression (DACP) Scheme meant for government doctors’ promotions,” Thakur said. Another doctor said, “We are facing too much interference. They are meddling in our day-to-day functioning.”