New Delhi, Mar 23 (IANS): Over 40,000 resident doctors in the national capital went on a mass Casual Leave on Thursday in support of their counterparts in Maharashtra who are on similar protest following rising assaults.

According to hospital authorities, the mass protest started at 9 a.m. and will end at 4 p.m. However, those resident doctors whose duty has been assigned in the emergency ward are not participating.

Among the top hospitals of Delhi whose resident doctors will be joining the protest are All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and Safdarjung Hospital, apart from other Delhi government hospitals and medical institutions under the civic bodies.

Doctors at AIIMS on Wednesday had also staged a protest by wearing black badge on their arms and donning black helmets while on duties against the rising assault cases on resident doctors.

Around 3,000 resident doctors in government hospitals in Maharashtra continued their mass Casual Leave agitation for the third day on Wednesday due to frequent attacks on them by aggrieved and irate relatives of patients.