Mumbai, July 2 (IANS): Around 4,000 resident doctors from government and municipal medical colleges-cum-hospitals here and around the state went on an indefinite strike on Thursday, seriously hitting medical services.

Led by the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), the strike is to press for 10 major demands including bond period, leave and stipend, said vice-president Amit Lompe.

"For instance, we want at least two months paid leave for pregnant lady doctors or those contracting TB, post-graduates specialising in a particular field to be posted in the same department during their bond service," Lompe told IANS.

MARD, led by its president Sagar Mundada, held a meeting with Medical Education Minister Vinod Tawde last month to discuss the matter and was given an verbal assurance that the demands would be met.

He said that till date there is no movement on the pending issues, compelling them to launch the strike that hit 14 government medical colleges-cum-hospitals and three run by the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation.

The MARD has claimed that the medical education department has mentioned only four demands instead of the 10 put forth, by the medicos, in the minutes of the meeting held on June 12.

Presently medical services such as OPDs, emergencies, surgeries and routine procedures have been hit at all public and civic hospitals in the capital and the rest of Maharashtra, and are temporarily being manned by junior doctors.