Hyderabad: Senior and Junior Doctors from government hospitals in Telangana boycotted work today as the government failed to meet their demands which were earlier promised by the chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.
Over 6000 senior and junior doctors in the state representing 15 government hospitals including Gandhi , Osmania , MGMH Warangal and others today boycotted their duties, demanding the government to immediately fulfill their demands failing which they will continue to boycott from work till demands are fully met.
Over 5000 junior doctors and 1500 senior doctors staged dharna in front of their respective hospitals seeking government to immediately approve their long pending demands.
Speaking on this, Dr. P. Rahul President , and Dr. Srikanth Vice President, Telangana Junior Doctors Association (JUDA) said that they submitted a memorandum to the Superintendant of Osmania general hospital demanding 15 percent hike in stipends for post graduates and interns which is due from January 2020 to be released immediately .
Even a 15 percent hike for senior residents has been pending for finance approval. Dr. Rahul said that they pursued for approval of hike with officials regularly since last 6 months. “The 10 percent incentive that was announced for healthcare workers has not been implemented till date,” read the JUDA notice.
The other grievance, as cited by the association President, was that healthcare workers and their family members were unable to find a bed for treatment. “NIMS is always occupied with limited beds and we urge you to increase the bed capacity and issue a circular for free treatment for healthcare workers and their family members,” said Dr.Rahul.
The letter also demands insurance for medical students up to post-graduate, in accordance to GO-74. “The ex-gratia of 50 lakh for doctors and 25 lakh for nurses and supporting staff that was announced has not been implemented so far. We will boycott service if the demands are not met by May 25, 2021,” the letter read.
Junior Doctors Association (JUDA) had given two weeks’ time to the government to meet their demands which has not been met till date hence the senior and Junior doctors boycotted duties from today onwards and said that they would continue to boycott their duties till such time the Government considers their demand.