Hyderabad: A day after they boycotted both elective and emergency duties across government hospitals in the state, Telangana junior doctors association (TJUDA) on Thursday evening announced that they are calling off their strike.
This decision comes after the association had detailed bilateral talks with the principal secretary for health and the director of medical education since Wednesday.
The doctors will report back to duty with immediate effect, at 9 pm on Thursday.
“The only issue that was not completely addressed was about ex-gratia for martyred HCWs from the state government side. Health officials gave us verbal assurance that alternatives for ex-gratia will be discussed with Hon’ble CM,” a statement from TJUDA said.
On Wednesday, chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao decided to increase the honorarium paid to the senior residents by 15 per cent and also instructed officials to ensure that better medical facilities be provided to junior doctors and their family members at NIMS.
He appealed to the striking doctors to call off their strike keeping in view the overall public health and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
However, junior doctors in government-run hospitals across Telangana continued their strike for the second day on Thursday, with as many as 4,000 junior doctors boycotting duties.
The TJUDA had earlier given a given two weeks’ time to the government to meet their demands, which included 15 per cent hike in stipends for postgraduates and interns which is due from January 2020, ex gratia of Rs 50 lakh for family members of junior doctors who died of COVID-19, allotment of beds in Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) for healthcare workers including junior doctors and their family members for free treatment, and 10 per cent risk allowance.