Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Junior doctors' strike total

Special Correspondent

Functioning of Government medical college hospitals hit

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Over 2,000 junior doctors, including postgraduate medical students and house surgeons, began a 48-hour strike from 8 a.m. on Thursday, throwing work out of gear in all the five Government medical college hospitals in the State.

The junior doctors had resorted to the strike to press their demand for residential facilities for them in the hospitals, a hike in stipend and a reduction in fees.

In a statement issued here, Junior Doctors' Action Council convener A. Althaf said they had formally placed these demands before the Government seven months back. Twice the Health Minister had called them for discussions and given them assurances, on the basis of which they had withdrawn strikes announced by them. He said the Minister had not honoured his word. The Action Council warned the Government that the junior doctors would next launch an indefinite strike if their demands were not conceded within a week. According to the Action Council, only 1,342 doctors are available in the five medical colleges. After they leave the hospitals after fixed working hours, it is up to the junior doctors to take care of the patients. During normal working hours also, the junior doctors share a bulk of the workload.

The Action Council said the Government was solely responsible for the difficulties the patients encountered because of the strike. Many other States had introduced the residency system for junior doctors to ensure complaint-free medical attention to the patients in Government medical college hospitals. A lobby of private hospitals was blocking it in Kerala, the Action Council alleged.

Another strike

Meanwhile, junior dental doctors attached to the Government dental college and the postgraduate students of the Government Pharmacy College in Thiruvananthapuram have announced that they would go a one-day strike on Friday. Their demands are the same as those of the medical college junior doctors.

In separate statements, they said they would upgrade their strike into an indefinite one from January 5, 2006 if the demands were not conceded.

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