The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Government misleading the public, say doctors

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Wednesday, Oct 24, 2007
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Government misleading the public, say doctors

Staff Reporter

Claim Sreemathy had given clear assurances

Thiruvananthapuram: The Health and Finance Ministers are misleading the public by adopting a stance that the government had never agreed to revise the pay scales of doctors in Health Service, government doctors have alleged.

Ms. P.K. Sreemathy had given clear assurances that the pay scales of government doctors would be revised during the talks she held with the Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA) on September 13 last year to end the doctors’ strike which had crossed 150 days, KGMOA president Sunny P. Orathel and secretary Manoj Narayanan said.

At a press conference here on Tuesday, the KGMOA distributed copies of the minutes of last year’s discussions it had with the government, following which it agreed to withdraw the strike. The minutes, signed by Ms. Sreemathy, states that the terms of reference of the working group under the Health Secretary will include “restructuring of pay scales in line with the new scheme”.

The KGMOA reiterated that its only demand was that the government implement the recommendations of the expert committee – which had only one KGMOA member and the rest, senior officials of the Health and Finance departments - which suggested that the entry cadre in Health Services (Assistant surgeons) be given a basic pay of Rs.20,700, with HRA and DA.

As per the recommendations of the Vishwas Mehta committee, a doctor entering Health Service should get a total pay of Rs.25,700. The committee recommended several allowances that may be given to doctors. But none of these allowances were at present being given to any doctor. By adding up these allowances which did not exist, the Finance Minister was misleading the public when he said that the doctors were getting a total salary of Rs.67,000, the KGMOA office-bearers said. “In the discussions held last month with the government, the Health Minister and the Health Ministry asked for some time to implement the expert committee’s report. Till the Finance Minister came out with a statement against pay revision, Ms. Sreemathy had not denounced this committee. Now, the Health Minister has chosen to deny even the existence of the report,” Dr. Orathel pointed out.

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