Nearly 5,000 resident doctors statewide -- of which 2,000 work in the four public hospitals of the city -- have been on an indefinite strike since Sunday midnight to press their demand for parity with the Central government scales and improvement in living and working conditions.

The BMC-run Nair Hospital, with an average daily turnout of 1,800 patients in the outpatients department, had only 652 patients in the department today, a number even less than yesterday's (800). The bed occupancy in the hospital too dropped to 30 per cent, with most patients having been discharged in the last few days and few admitted since the strike began.

Various medical and surgical wards in the hospital wore a deserted look. However, there were no full-time doctors in thewards as claimed by the authorities, and it was left to nurses and relatives to look after the patients. Also, the intensive cardiac care unit has been shut down and all patients needing heart care shifted to the medical intensive care unit.

According to the hospital dean Dr Neelima Kshirsagar, the number of surgeries performed had definitely gone down and only emergency cases were being taken up. Explaining the low turnout of patients, she said people knew the resident doctors' strike was on and had therefore not come forward. The administration had roped in 24 medical officers from outside to take care of patients, she added.

The resident doctors at Nair today complained that conditions in the quarters allotted to them were pathetic, yet the hospital had not given them rooms in the recently-constructed 11-storey building. Four to five resident doctors were crammed in a single room in the NEGO hostel, they charged, and no proper toilet or bathroom facilities provided. According to them, the beds in theirrooms were actually rejects from the wards and a cause for backache, and there was no running water either. The authorities worked overtime to provide facilities to persons of other categories but had neither time nor funds for resident doctors, they alleged.

Reacting to this, Dr Kshirsagar said the new building was still unfit for occupation as it did not have a lift and there was a problem with water supply. Work is on to solve these problems and to get the furniture done so that the building could be used by resident doctors, she added.

At LTMG Hospital, Sion, final year MBBS students said they had been asked to help out professors and lecturers and were assigned the MICU, ICU, as well as the casualty and medicine wards. One of the students said they had been asked to fill up forms, take patients from one ward to another and assist in procedures.

At the same time, claims and counter-claims from the residents and the government continued. The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD)spokesman Dr Rajas Deshpande said the government was trying to spread misinformation that hospital services were running well, when in fact 90 per cent of the services had been hit. The strike would continue till the government concedes the demand for parity, he assured.

According to Dr Deshpande, teachers at KEM Hospital held a meeting this afternoon and expressed their support for the residents' demands. He said they would consider joining the stir next week.

Health Minister Digvijay Khanvilkar, on the other hand, maintained that all was well, at least with government hospitals. ``255 doctors have been brought in from rural areas and 45 from ESIs,'' the Minister, who is currently in Nagpur, said. As for talks, Khanvilkar said the resident doctors would have to first call off the strike and return to duty, only then would negotiations be possible.

Meanwhile, only one complaint was registered today at the control set up by the government at Mantralaya. Additionl Municipal Commissioner G S Gill, who hadgiven his mobile number for complaints, said no one had complained to him.