Salary revision: Medical college doctors to stage hunger strike on Friday

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Government Medical College doctors will on Friday stage a relay hunger strike to press their demand for getting their salary dues cleared and other service conditions. The strike is not meant to cause inconvenience to the public, but to draw the attention of the government to the problems faced by the faculty members, said Kerala Government Medical College Teachers’ Association (KGMCTA) and Kerala Government Postgraduate Medical Teachers’ Association (KGPMTA) spearheading the protest. 

The organisations have also decided to go ahead with the indefinite strike from February 9 if the government failed to agree to its demands. KGPCTA members donning PPE (personal protective equipment) on Thursday staged a protest meet in front of the Secretariat as the government did not heed  their demands.

 “Medical teachers are fighting for their profession’s dignity. As responsible healthcare professionals, we wanted to stage protest without causing inconvenience to the public,” said a doctor justifying her decision to join the protest donning the PPE kit. She said she had come after attending to emergency work at the Medical College Hospital. Since January 29, the doctors have been boycotting academic duties, pay ward admission, VIP duties, non-Covid meetings and board meetings. The strike has affected classes and practicals of medical students. 

The doctors have been at loggerheads with the government over salary dues since 2016 and for failing to rectify  salary anomalies of the entry cadre. They started the strike after the government recently announced pay revision and payment of arrears for other government employees. The anomalies in pay structure of entry cadre doctors resulted in a shortfall of `11,000 to `18,000 for those who joined service after 2016, said Binoy S, state president of KGMCTA. The KGPMTA blamed higher officials in the department for making the teaching profession unattractive for new entrants. “The government has delayed the promotion by misinterpreting the court orders,” said Jeji G, state secretary of KGPMTA.