Doctors to push for pay hike with government

Government doctors’ associations claim that the stipend and the salaries of the doctors are low in comparison to the doctors in other states and have been demanding salaries and allowances on par with their counterparts in other states and at the Centre.

“The State Health Department promised to set up a committee to compare the pay scale of government doctors in other states and undertake recommendations to hike the pay of the doctors. Over 18,000 doctors from government medical colleges and hospitals had protested across the state demanding time-bound promotions and hike in the pay last year,” said Dr GR Rabindranath, secretary, Doctors Association of Social Equality.

After the protests, the state government had formed a committee to look into the issue and assured a solution within a month.

“Despite the assurance, the government filed an affidavit in the Madras High Court stating that the committee formed by the government is informal and does not have any power to decide on the increment of the salaries. Even after repeated recommendations, government has not taken any action yet. Therefore, all government doctors are meeting for a state executive council meeting on Sunday and decide on a long-term protest,” said Dr C Sundaresan, state president, All Government Doctors’ Association.

The government doctor associations are to give a joint statement on the issue on Monday at the Madras Medical College.