Thiruvananthapuram Docs’ strike: High-level meeting today

Thiruvananthapuram: The strike by the PG doctors will continue as the talks they had with health minister Veena George on Wednesday ended without reaching any consensus. The minister urged them to withdraw the strike saying that the government has taken all the possible steps to resolve their issues.

But the PG doctors are upset since the minister did not give any concrete assurance to meet any of the demands raised by them. The two major demands of the striking PG doctors were the appointment of more junior residents and also a 4% increase in the stipend.

The minister has assured that a high-level meeting will be convened on Thursday to finalise the appointment of more junior residents and also for streamlining the duty of the post graduate students in the medical college hospitals. On the demand for increasing the stipend, the health minister said the issue has already been taken up with the finance department.
The minister also assured that the government will set up a committee to look into the workload of the PG doctors in the hospitals. Though the PG doctors demanded that all these assurances should be given by the minister in writing, the minister declined to do so.

Meanwhile, it has been learnt that the finance department has rejected the proposal for an increase in the stipend of the post graduate doctors in the state.

After the health minister’s discussions with the representatives of the Kerala Medical Post Graduates Association on December 7, the health department had proposed a 4% increase in the stipend and had forwarded the file to the finance department. However the finance department is not ready to accept the demand and is learnt to have noted that the stipend in Kerala is already higher than other southern states. The finance department pointed out that while the stipend here is Rs 55,000, in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh the PG doctors get only Rs 48,000 and Rs 45,000, respectively. In Karnataka, the stipend is Rs 55,000, it noted.

The finance department has pointed out that the present financial situation is not conducive for an increase in the stipend and that it can be considered when the situation improves.