Doctors protest against pay panel report in Amirtsar, services hit

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 21

The faculty at Government Medical College and Government Dental College boycotted the medical services on Monday to protest against the 6th Punjab Pay Commission.

The faculty members boycotted the Out Patient Department (OPD), Operation Theatre services and teaching duties for three hours to express their resentment against the Pay Commission.

However, emergency and Covid care services were continued as announced by the Punjab State Medical and Dental Teachers’ Association. Dr Mirdu Gupta said: “The 6th Pay Commission of the state government is against the interests of medical and dental college teachers.”

She said as per the commission report, the non-practicing allowance (NPA) has been reduced to 20 per cent from the existing 25 per cent. She said NPA has been delinked from the basic pay. She said earlier NPA was considered a part of the basic pay for calculation of all allowances. She said new norms are against the financial interests of doctors.

The protest call given by the association received complete response from the faculty members as all services were boycotted. The protest resulted in inconvenience to the general public as they were unaware of the announcement by doctors and reached the institute for medical services.

Dr Gupta said the government had forced the employees to protest as it had failed to consider the interest of the employees. She demanded that the issues raised by the doctors be addressed at the earliest. She said they would be forced to intensify the protest if the state government failed to address their issues.