New Delhi ? Government doctors Wednesday ended a 19-day strike against affirmative action for India’s lower castes, hours after the Supreme Court ordered them back to work.

The announcement by resident doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences was followed by other hospitals in New Delhi and several other cities, TV stations reported.

Doctors and students at the institute had started the strike, which spread and hampered services at government hospitals across India, although doctors not taking part kept emergency rooms running.

Along with the striking doctors, tens of thousands of medical students and young software programmers, engineers and bankers have protested the plan to increase the number of places reserved for low-caste Hindus and ethnic minorities in colleges and certain professions.