More than 400 junior doctors went on an indefinite strike, first demanding a hike in stipend and then payment of salary instead of stipend.

'We are not going to end the strike following the state government's decision to raise the stipend. We want the state government to pay us monthly salary instead of stipend,' PMCH Junior Doctors Association president Rajiv Babu said Sunday.

The strike has badly hit emergency, outdoor and surgery services of the hospital.

Most of the wards of the hospital wore a deserted look as hundreds of patients were forced to shift to private nursing homes.

'Those who cannot afford treatment outside have been left in the lurch and are waiting for treatment,' a nurse in the hospital told IANS.

'It is really a bad situation. Neither the striking doctors nor the government realise the problem. The emergency ward has few patients now. In normal days, the emergency ward remains overcrowded and patients have to be treated on the floor due to shortage of beds,' she said.