Medical, dental teachers burn effigy of pay panel in Patiala

Tribune News Service

Patiala, June 22

Doctors working at government medical and dental colleges in the district today burnt an effigy of the Sixth Punjab Pay Commission. The doctors said the pay commission report had resulted in a huge financial loss to them.

Opposing the pay commission report, doctors of the medical college, along with PCMS, Ayurvedic, veterinary, RMO and dental surgeons’ associations in the state, have launched an indefinite agitation against the government.

The OPD and operation theatre services at the Government Rajindra Hospital and Dental College, along with teaching of the medical students in government medical and dental colleges and hospitals in Patiala, remained suspended for three hours in protest.

The doctors raised slogans against the Punjab Pay Commission and Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal for misguiding the Punjab Cabinet on the pay of government doctors which will lead to a drastic cut in the salaries of medical and dental teachers, instead of any financial benefits as the non-practice allowance (NPA) has been decreased from 25 to 20 per cent and delinked from the basic pay besides withdrawing the academic allowance being given to the medical and dental faculty for academic and research purpose.

According to Dr DS Bhullar, general secretary of Punjab State Medical and Dental Teachers Association, the state and Patiala units of the association, along with action committee members, held a meeting today and decided to continue the agitation till the restoration of the NPA provision in its original form.