Medical college doctors in protest mode

Doctors at the Ernakulam Government Medical College observed an hour-long dharna on Monday afternoon highlighting their long-standing demand for salary parity with their counterparts in other government medical colleges and pay parity among doctors at the medical college itself. The doctors have also stopped punching their attendance from Monday as part of the protest.

G. Unnikrishnan, general secretary of the teachers’ association, said there was no disruption in the services being offered by the medical college on account of the protest. The doctors plan to observe a day’s token strike on May 3 even as they have sought an appointment with the Health Minister to raise their grievances.

Dr. Unnikrishnan said five years had passed since the State government took over the erstwhile Cooperative Medical College. The process of integration was not yet complete. Though the process was expected to be time-consuming, the doctors had demanded that their pay parity be established. Doctors at the medical college received much less than their counterparts in other medical colleges in different categories, he said.