KOZHIKODE: Government doctors have said functioning of government hospitals in Kozhikode is likely to be disrupted on Thursday because of their decision to go on mass casual leave and stage a dharna in front of the Civil Station.

The dharna would be part of the 130-day-old non-cooperation agitation by government doctors to press their demand for better service conditions and salary.

Spokesmen for the Kozhikode branch of the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association said here on Wednesday said arrangements were made to ensure that the casualty and Out Patient wings of hospitals remained unaffected by the agitation.

The doctors would intensify their agitation in the coming days if the Government continued to be insensitive to their demands.

On August 30 there would be a State-wide 24-hour strike that would disrupt functioning of OP wings, surgery and vaccination campaigns. However, that day also the striking doctors would attend to duties in casualty wards even though they would not be signing the attendance register.

Association branch secretary P. Sivasankaran alleged that successive Governments as well as Health Ministers had not done anything to improve the doctors' lot though they had been generous in expressing support to the doctors' demands.

He said the doctors' salary was equal to that of higher secondary teachers. Besides having to be on duty from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., the doctors were burdened with VIP duty, medico-legal cases, and duties related to national health programmes.

"In these circumstances Government doctors have no choice but to resort to a strike for fair remuneration. Government alone would be responsible for the inconvenience to the public caused by our agitation," said the spokesman.

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