The protesting resident doctors in Maharashtra resumed work on Saturday, a day after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis promised them that they would get the security they sought and the Bombay High Court told them that medical emergencies cannot wait and they must return to their jobs. More than 4,000 doctors had been on “mass leave” since Monday in protest against attacks on them by patients’ relatives.

The Maharashtra Resident Doctors’ Association had met Fadnavis on Friday evening, and later put out a statement saying they were satisfied with his promise to deploy hundreds of extra security personnel and have CCTVs set up for the doctors’ protection. The association also said that in an affidavit to the court that it will not object to any action taken against the agitating doctors. The Indian Medical Association, which had been supporting the doctors’ protests in Mumbai, also called off the strike after the high court’s order.

The doctors’ association had asked its members to call off their strike following the court’s directive. However, not many doctors showed up at work on Friday. During a court hearing later in the day, the lawyer representing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said 38 patients had died in Mumbai’s Sion Hospital in 24 hours. The court had then asked the association to file the affidavit stating they had no objection to the government taking action against those doctors who participated in the strike.

The protests started after two new cases were reported from Wadia Maternity Hospital in Parel, Mumbai, and Aurangabad, where doctors were assaulted by the relatives of some patients. The protesting doctors have claimed that there have been at least 45 such cases in the past three years.