The indefinite strike by doctors in Bihar in protest against the killing of a surgeon was called off on Thursday.

The decision followed the arrest of some accused in the murder of surgeon N K Agarwal and the return of an abducted doctor, Nagendra Prasad, on Wednesday.

"We have asked the doctors to resume work immediately facilitating restoration of health service, which was paralysed during the past five days due to the stir," Dr Sahajanand Singh, general secretary, IMA (Bihar chapter), said after an emergency meeting of the association.

Singh said the IMA expressed satisfaction over the steps taken by the state government facilitating Prasad's release and the arrest of several accused, including a constable and relatives of gangster Bindu Singh, responsible for killing Agarwal.

The IMA had on Wednesday eased its strike after deciding to restore emergency services as Prasad, abducted in Samastipur last month, escaped from the clutches of his captors in Khagaria.

The strike had forced the state government to approach the Ministry of Defence for deployment of army doctors to man major hospitals in Bihar.

The railways, too, opened its hospitals in the state for general patients.

The government also transferred Dr Nina Agarwal, the surgeon's wife, from Muzzaffarpur to Patna on compassionate ground.

It also decided to provide armed bodyguards to the doctors on a priority basis.