Bihar Health Minister, Ashwini Kumar Choubey at a function warned doctors of dire consequences if they disrupted medical facilities with their protest demanding a hike in their wages.

He made these remarks while flagging off a 'Jan Swasthya Chetna Yatra' in Patna on Saturday.

He added that doctors who will go on strike would be duly punished.

"If you try to obstruct the arrangement made for the welfare of the people then we also know how to punish. This would never be tolerated. I request the doctors and other workers and (hospital) owners with folded hands that if there is a problem then tell me and cooperate, but instead you are threatening us to increase the wages," said Choubey.

The minister made this statement in reaction to the frequent demand of the junior doctors to increase their stipend.

Previously, an eleven-day strike by doctors in Rajasthan had claimed at least 54 lives and crippled medical services in the state.

Nearly 9,000 doctors from Rajasthan government hospitals began the strike on December 21, demanding higher wages and perks at par with their counterparts employed by the Central Government. (ANI)