As the Maharashtra resident doctors' strike entered the third day, the state government on Wednesday gave strong warning to the protesting doctors and asked them to resume duty or face action.
"Those doctors who don't return to work by 8 pm on Wednesday will lose 6 months' salary," state Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan was quoted as saying by a news agency.
Meanwhile, Dean of Government Medical College, Nagpur on Wednesday suspended 301 resident doctors in the wake of the strike. In another development, a show cause notice has also been issued by the Bombay Municipal Corporation to the 1,200 protesting doctors.
The Bombay High Court, which was expected to hear the matter on junior doctors' mass leave on Wednesday, will most likely hear it on Thursday.
Reports suggest that because of unavailability of the CJ's bench, the hearing has been postponed to another day.
For the third consecutive day on Wednesday, over 3,000 resident doctors continued their mass casual leave protest against growing incidents of attacks by patients' relatives on them.
Medical services in 17 government hospitals in Maharashtra, including four in Mumbai, were severely affected because of the strike.