KANNUR: Minister for Cooperation M.V. Raghavan has said that the ongoing agitation by house surgeons in the medical college hospital at Pariyaram is aimed at destroying the institution.

At a press conference on the college campus on Monday, Mr. Raghavan, who is the chairman of the cooperative society running the Academy of Medical Science (ACME), said the management would not tolerate indiscipline from any section of the college, as the college and hospital were serving as an important healthcare institution in the region and an investment of crores of rupees was involved in its development.

The house surgeons were on strike for the third day on Monday demanding annual increment of their stipend, which the House Surgeons' Association of the college said had been suspended for the past three years.

Mr. Raghavan said house surgeons were not doctors and, therefore, had no right to independently treat patients. They were doing their work as part of their studies, he said. The stir by 180 house surgeons in the college hospital would in no way affect the functioning of the institution, he added. He had not initiated any discussion with the striking house surgeons. Those participating in the strike would not be allowed to stay in the college hostel. The Minister also termed the agitation politically motivated.

The association said the system of annual increment was suspended three years ago owing to a financial crisis faced by the State Government. Following repeated requests from the All-Kerala House Surgeons' Association, the Government recently declared a small increase in stipend for house surgeons and postgraduate students with effect from January.

As the students now doing their internship at ACME were admitted to the institution at the time when the college was under Government administration, they had the right to claim the stipend given by the Government, the association said. This right had been asserted in the Transfer of Pariyaram Medical College to Cooperative Sector Bill enacted by the Assembly in 2002, it added.

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