Hyderabad: The Telangana Junior Doctors Association (T-JUDA) have started protests across the State in all prominent government hospitals on Monday, demanding that the State government fulfil their eight demands. They also warned the authorities not to put them in a position where they wouldn’t be able to attend to the emergency duties in their respective hospitals.
The JUDAs at Osmania General Hospital protested on the first day of their strike, chanting slogans with their demands, one of which, was to ensure they received their monthly stipend on time, on a particular day.
“It is not that this was the first time we have informed the health minister about this. We have been receiving our stipend once in 3 months because of procedural delays. We have to follow-up with the directorate of medical education, then at the secretariat, and finally with the finance department where it is getting delayed. If we spend most of our time to run around the government offices to get our stipend paid, how can we perform our duties,” asked a junior doctor protesting at Osmania General Hospital on Monday.
They demanded issuance of a government order, with a date when their stipend will be paid every month.
The JUDA members are making it clear that it is not only about the delay in receiving their stipends. They emphasize the construction of a new hospital block for Osamania General Hospital, as the existing infrastructure only increased the chances of patients and medical personnel catching an infection due to the lack of basic infrastructure at the hospital.
They also claimed that there was a shortage of teaching staff and medical equipment in the government medical colleges opened under the previous BRS government.
“When we met the health minister, he keeps telling us if we can’t wait for some more time, after waiting for 9.5 years under the BRS rule. We are only asking him to fulfil his responsibility, which was promised by his party in its election manifesto,” said a protesting doctor at OGH, demanding a new facility with all basic infrastructure there.
Another complaint from Kakatiya Medical College in Warangal was that the roads leading to the campus were so bad that accidents have been taking place where the students were getting injured.
“Every now and then there are power-cuts in the hostel. The roads are hopeless. But it is not just these reasons why we have been protesting. We have the State government a notice on June 18 and warned them that we will go on strike. We are not relenting,” said a female doctor protesting at OGH.
This was not the first time that T-JUDA members have taken the path of defiance. Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic happened, they have been raising the alarming issues in the government hospitals with the State government.
One of the demands of JUDA activists has been that they need security while working, as the incidents of attacks on doctors and other medical staff have increased in the recent times.
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