We would like to hope that normalcy will return to the country's specialised hospital after satisfactory resolution of the differences thereby ending untold suffering of the patients.

It transpires from various reports that the stifling situation was created when a notice was hung on the hospital wall stating that contractual appointments will not be renewed any further. The doctors were given contractual appointments over a period of almost 15 years and their services got renewed in three-year cycles.

The emergency doctors had stopped referring patients for admission thereby forcing the latter to either go back home or seek admission in some other hospital. And the matter took a turn for the worse when the resident physicians and surgeons of the out-patient department extended their support to the striking doctors.

We understand, the aggrieved persons are highly qualified doctors who have been working in the same hospital for a number of years. Therefore, any major decision with regard to their career should have been taken in consultation with them or their representatives. The abrupt action should have been avoided.

To uphold the reputation that the hospital has enjoyed over time and in consideration of the suffering of the patients, we urge the Birdem authorities to aim for a durable settlement with the striking doctors at the earliest. All parties concerned must realise that in medical profession service comes before everything else.