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Monday, Mar 24, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Government doctors plan stir

Staff Reporter

Demand parity pay structure with those of Directorate of Medical Education

ELURU: The government doctors will launch indefinite relay fast on Monday under the aegis of the district branch of the Andhra Pradesh Government Doctors Association seeking salaries on a par with Central Government employees.

M.V.G. Tilak, association president, told reporters that the association had decided to launch the relay fast at all the primary hospitals, area hospitals and district hospitals without affecting medical services.

Intensify agitation

Mr. Tilak said the association had decided to intensify the agitation since the government remained indifferent to key demand for implementation of the report of the Task Force which sought a parity in wages between the doctors working in the Andhra Pradesh Vydya Vidhana Parishat and those in the Central government. When a person working in the Directorate of Medical Education got a monthly wage of Rs 60,000, a doctor of his cadre in the Vydya Vidhana Parishad got only Rs 18,000, he added. Mr. Tilak observed that several doctor posts in the government hospitals remained vacant for several years as the qualified candidates were not willing to join the government services due to low wage structure.

CT scan installed

For instance, a CT scan was installed a few months ago in the government hospital, it remained idle for want of radiologist.

Similar was the case with several departments in the hospital, he added.

The government notification issued recently for recruiting doctor posts was an indication for the poor response from the candidates, he said.

When the notification sought to fill 325 doctor posts, the Vydya Vidhana Parishad received only 600 applications, 60 members received appointment letters and finally 32 candidates joined the services, Dr. Tilak said.

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