Junior doctors vow no let-up, threaten to strike

Hyderabad: The junior doctors are getting ready to take up strike in the State. The doctors, who have protested with black badges on Saturday, have threatened to boycott emergency duties also from April 11 onwards with various demands.

The junior doctors in all medical colleges across Telangana took up a protest with black badges as their issues were not addressed yet. The junior doctors have been demanding the State government to provide clean hostel, security and food facility to the PG students, who have joined the District Residency Programme (DRP) and enhancement of stipend as per the National Medical Council notification, the junior doctors have threatened to go on strike of the government does not act on their demands.

The junior doctors led by Dr Kaushik Kumar Pinjarala gave a representation to the Director of Medical Education K Ramesh Reddy with demands including DRP program and also enhancement of the stipend. Dr Kaushik said that they were given assurance from the Health secretary that accommodation and food facilities would be provided by the government and were asked to report on April 1. However, the superintendents of respective district hospitals have denied providing any facilities. It is inhumane to ask junior doctors to serve the State when its own government isn't ready to support them, said Dr Kaushik.

Dr Kaushik said that the State government had decided to adopt the formula for fixing the stipend @ 15 per cent hike once in two years. Accordingly, government enhanced stipend at 15 per cent in May 2021. The next enhancement is due from January 1, 2023. He said that they were given assurance that their stipends would be credited in 2nd week of every month. Though the DME office was kind enough to forward our stipend bills and stipend hike file, still neither the stipends were being credited on time nor enhanced even after multiple representations.

The junior doctors also demanded clearance of pending stipends of February and March months, by April 10. "If the government fails to address these issues immediately, we will boycott our services excluding emergencies from April 11," said Dr Kaushik.