Hyderabad, November 13: Patients at the Government hospitals across the State suffered the most with junior doctors boycotting their duties demanding hike in their stipend.
Medical and health services including out-patient, ward and Arogyasri services were paralysed forcing many patients to return home even as talks between the State Government and the medicos failed again.
Chief Minister K Rosaiah invited the junior doctors to hold talks at his chambers in the Secretariat tomorrow. Until then, the medicos have decided to continue their agitation without interrupting the emergency services.
They said they will have no choice but to stall emergency services in case the Government did not respond to their demands.
On the first day of their strike, about 14,000 medicos pursuing undergraduate, postgraduate and superspeciality courses went on strike at about 10 Government teaching hospitals in the State. Patients belonging to nearby districts who came for treatment at these hospitals had to wait for long hours for their turn even as senior doctors made vain attempts to treat the patients.
Patients were seen returning to their homes from Government hospitals like Gandhi Hospital, Osmania General Hospital and other governments even as some others got treated at nearby private hospitals.
The medical authorities claimed to have made alternative arrangements asking senior doctors to work for longer hours. Out-patient, in-patient services and surgeries apart from swine flu screening centres at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport were the worst hit due to the strike.
Fortunately, junior doctors continued to attend emergency services at all the hospitals.
Meanwhile, Minister for Medical Education P Sudharshan Reddy held talks with the junior doctors in the evening but in vain. While the junior doctors maintained that the enhancement of stipend should be on par with the UGC scales or as per the recommendations of an expert committee on residential system in 2006, the Government offered a comprehensive package that will not be enhanced for the next few years. The doctors claimed that the package offered by the Government will serve no purpose as implementation of the expert committee recommendations will double their stipend and assure yearly hike in their stipend. Similar is the case with implementation of the UGC scale.
The Government has agreed to increase the stipend for medicos of undergraduate, postgraduate and super-specialty courses from the existing Rs 5,000, Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000 to Rs 7,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 17,000 respectively. However, it will be enhanced in the next few years keeping in view of the financial crisis in the State.
With both the Government and the medicos not reaching a consensus on the issue, Sudharshan Reddy forwarded the issue to Chief Minister K Rosaiah who in turn asked the junior doctors to meet him for final talks tomorrow.
–Agencies