The eight-day old indefinite strike by government doctors today spread to peripheral health centres in the district affecting their emergency and other services.

Over 4,000 doctors, demanding revision in their pay packages, intensified their agitation after talks to break the deadlock failed yesterday.

"All emergency services in the peripheral institutions of the province have been brought under the purview of strike from today in protest against irresponsible and suppressive attitude of the government," spokesman of Doctors Joint Action Committee (DJAC) Dr Neeraj Sharma said here.

This was necessitated because of failure of talks with the government, he said, adding, the two-hour-long meeting between a delegation of DJAC and the Minister for Medical Education RS Chib here did not yield any positive results.

DJAC will continue their strike until their demand, including time bound promotion, is accepted by the state government, Sharma said.

He said that more doctors from Government Medical College (GMC), other associated hospitals and those serving in peripheral institutions of the province will submit their resignations. Earlier, about 300 junior doctors have already tendered their resignations, Sharma said.

However, Chib said that he assured DJAC representatives that the government is actively considering their demand and any announcement in this regard would be made at the time of bi-annual meeting in November.

The minister said that he told the representatives that their two demands regarding change of pay band and enhancement of stipend appeared to be genuine.

Now it is their choice whether to join the duties or keep on striking work, the minister said.

The DJAC among other things has been demanding change of pay band, introducing a law to make assault on health personnel a non-bailable offence, and payment of arrears from January 2006.

Meanwhile, the health services across Jammu continued to remain paralysed today, official sources said, adding, the Out Patients Department (OPD) remained shut in the city hospitals as doctors stayed away from the work.

However, emergency wards were operating in the hospitals, the sources said.

The strike has badly hit the poor patients, who could not pay fee of doctors at the private clinics.