AYUSH doctors on indefinite strike, PG doctors await pending stipend in Karnataka

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Jul 16, 2020: As Karnataka continues to record the highest everyday growth rate of Covid-19 cases among all states at 7.29 per cent, several protests are brewing within organisations of frontline workers in different parts of the state alleging that their basic demands are yet to be met.

 

For instance, as many as 233 doctors in Davanagere are on an indefinite strike since July 3 in demand of their stipends pending for nearly 16 months now.

The protesters include 130 postgraduate doctors and 93 interns who fall under the ‘government quota’ but are uncertain of their overdues paid after the Directorate of Medical Education directed JJM Medical College to clear the same.

According to the protesters, while those who completed the course in management quota are paid by the college, these student doctors who qualified through the government quota have been sidelined.

The students, however, are attending emergency services in Chigateri District Hospital and Women and Child Hospital without pay for 16 months now after which protests were held at the Davanagere Deputy Commissioner (DC)’s office on Wednesday.

“While the DC and the Superintendent of Police have assured us the overdue will be paid soon, we are yet to receive a written confirmation on the same from the Davanagere district administration. We will resume strike on Monday (July 20) if our demands are not met by then,” Dr Sunil Naik, a house surgeon at JJM Medical College told Indianexpress.com.

Protesting doctors added that the district administration further promised them that the medical college management will be directed to pay the stipends beginning July 2020.

Each PG doctor’s schedule runs to at least 80 hours of service per week, which is highly stressful due to the ongoing pandemic situation, protesters added.

“Even while the government is keen to use our services during the pandemic — to which we stay committed to — threats from the district administration to withdraw protests hurt us. However, we will not budge until we get our demands addressed in a just manner,” a PG resident doctor said.

Meanwhile, the absence of about 2,000 contractual AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy) doctors in the state is further expected to have a crippling effect on the pandemic services offered by the Karnataka government. The doctors, who began an indefinite strike on Wednesday, have planned for mass resignation if their jobs are not regularised and salaries are raised.

While most doctors work in clinics and primary healthcare centres in rural areas of the state, some are now deputed to taluks and district hospitals, including Covid care centres.

The doctors, some of them working for over 10 to 15 years on contract, have urged the government to regularise them in recognition of their services.

“Contractual doctors have been facing disparities on salary-related issues for a long time now. With most of us risking our lives now, just like the other doctors in service, it is high time the government raised our pay and at least match it with the basic salaries paid to regular healthcare workers,” Dr Prakash Patil, president of Ballari AYUSH doctors said.

When contacted, a top official of the Medical Education Department said the government is now focused on enhancing manpower to handle the crisis better.

“We have been receiving a lot of grievances from across sectors of employees in the medical education sector in the last few days. While our priority is to handle the pandemic better by deploying more healthcare workers on the frontline, the government will also find a way for an amicable resolution of all issues,” the official said.

Earlier, Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)’s sanitation workers, popularly known as pourakarmikas, had staged multiple protests demanding better safety arrangements and working conditions, and timely payment of their salaries amid the coronavirus crisis.


courtesy:IndianExpress