Telangana doctors strike for stipends: No out-patient, elective duties from December 19

Hyderabad: Telangana junior doctors and senior resident doctors are planning to go on strike from December 19, by boycotting out-patient (OP) and elective duties since they have not received any assurances about the regularisation of stipends and disbursement of pending monthly stipends despite giving repeated representations to the health authorities.

In this regard, members of the Telangana Senior Resident Doctors’ Association (T-SRDA) and members of Telangana Junior Doctors’ Association (T-JUDA) have written to the Director of Medical Education (DME) Dr K Ramesh Reddy, intimating him about their decision to boycott outpatients and elective OTs from Tuesday.

Referring to the delay in the disbursement of stipends for second and third-year junior residents and house surgeons since September, as well as stipends for first-year postgraduates and senior resident doctors, which are still in the process, representatives of T-JUDA wrote, “The delay in stipends is causing financial distress among the junior doctors.”

“JUDA has already given multiple representations in the DME office, to the health secretary, finance secretary and even to the health minister, but the stipends have still not been cleared. Even in the past, our stipends were cleared only when JUDA repeatedly followed up and pressurised the authorities concerned every month. As a last resort, junior doctors (interns, PGS, super speciality PGs and senior residents) have collectively decided to go on a strike from December 19.”

The doctors demand regularisation of stipends i.e., stipends should be credited on or before a specific date every month and secondly, appoint a person in charge in the finance department who would get the medical bills cleared within 24 hours of the cheques’ release.

In another letter addressed to the DME, representatives of T-SRDA stated, “The stipends are due since the time compulsory senior residency has started, from September 1, 2023. It is a long duration for a senior resident to work for 80-90 hours a week without payment. Since the stipends have not been cleared despite several representations to authorities concerned, as a last resort, senior resident doctors have decided to go on a strike from December 19.”

Previous demands

Early this month, Dr P Kaushik Kumar, president of T-JUDA said, “We do not want to go on a strike and want to give some time to the new government to settle our stipend issues. Our stipends from September have not been credited and junior doctors have been working tirelessly without any financial assistance. Many of the doctors are sole earners in their families. It is sad to see how the authorities concerned do not care about this issue even after repeated representation. However, if the issue is not solved soon, we will have no option but to go on a strike.”

According to Dr Kaushik, there are over 12,000 junior doctors (house surgeons, senior residents and first, second and third-year PG medicos) in the government medical colleges in the state. The monthly stipend of PG doctors ranges from Rs 58,289-Rs 64,767 while the monthly stipend of house surgeons is Rs 25,906.

Not receiving regular and timely stipends has always been an issue plaguing junior doctors irrespective of the government in power. Till the doctors threaten to go on strike, the stipends are never disbursed.