Medicos on warpath with govt over wage disparity

Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 23

The medical fraternity in Jammu and Kashmir seems to be on a warpath with the government as the resident doctors of Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar, and its five associated hospitals have now threatened to go on an indefinite strike from June 5, to press for their demand of a pay hike.

The threat comes days after the government brought the wages of the resident doctors of Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) at par with the residents of national health institutions, such as the PGI, Chandigarh.

“If our demands are not met by month-end, doctors will be forced to go on an indefinite strike from June 5. The doctors will withdraw all services, including those in emergency wards,” said Dr Irfan Qayoom, president of the Resident Doctors’ Association, GMC.

The GMC doctors are demanding that the monthly stipend of residents and postgraduates should be brought at par with their counterparts in SKIMS.

Also, they are demanding the non-practising allowance for resident doctors and revision of stipend for doctors doing internship in the associated hospitals.

The government is also facing protest threats from the Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) which includes medical officers and consultants working in rural areas. They are seeking parity in their salaries with officers appointed in the same pay band in the civil administration. Thousands of doctors under the banner of DAK on Tuesday wore black bands to press for their demands. “If the government remains unmoved then doctors across J&K will go for a one-day strike on June 20 which will be followed by an indefinite strike from June 25,” DAK president Suhail Naik said.

The state government had brought the wages of the GMC doctors at par with the SKIMS doctors in October. After a six-day protest, the state government had enhanced the wages of the resident doctors of SKIMS on May 17. The hike in the wages of the SKIMS doctors has again brought back the demands of the doctors of the GMC and its associated hospitals.