Bengaluru: The Karnataka government Tuesday was forced to concede to the demands made by over 5,000 government doctors to increase their salary after they threatened to go on an indefinite strike.
The doctors, who protested under the aegis of the Karnataka Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA), launched the strike across all the 28 districts in the morning, but called a truce after senior ministers from the Yediyurappa government stepped in to resolve the issue.
The doctors were seeking a salary hike — either at par with their colleagues in the medical education department, who they claim earn 20 per cent more than them, or according to the pay scale of the Central Government Health Scheme.
Although the association is yet to call off the strike, KGMOA president G. Srinivas told ThePrint the association will make a formal announcement about the withdrawal of their strike in the next 24 hours.
KGMOA members said that they will convey to their counterparts across 28 districts that the government has agreed to their demands.
Truce after meeting
The protesting doctors said as part of their protest they had planned not to share the daily Covid-19 data of patients with the government, suspend all OPD services, and only attend to emergency cases.
State Health Minister B. Sriramulu then appealed to the doctors not to take such extreme measures especially at a time when the state is trying hard to fight the pandemic.
“I request them not take any steps that would hit the medical services and treatment due to their unavailability,” he told ThePrint.
A meeting was subsequently held in the evening between the KGMOA members, state Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar, Sriramulu and Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan.
“The revision in the salaries will be made based in 6 year, 13 year and 20 year promotions for the doctors and details on the same will be obtained from the medical officers,” said Sudhakar after the meeting.
Also read: Dear Indians, don’t clap for doctors battling Covid-19 if you don’t want them as neighbours
‘Seen enough promises’
Earlier in the day, the members of the association, which has branches across 28 districts, said they had made several requests to the government about their demands earlier, but in vain.
“We had demanded immediate action from the government. We have seen enough promises,” Srinivas told ThePrint.
The protesting doctors claimed that families of many doctors, who died of Covid, are yet to receive the compensation as promised by the state government. The government has now assured them that the issue will be looked into.
According to the association, many senior doctors, nurses, senior technicians and healthcare workers have succumbed to the deadly virus.
Doctors’ strikes in the past
Karnataka has seen several protests by government doctors since the Covid outbreak in March.
On 21 August, government doctors and healthcare staff in Mysuru protested over the death of Taluk Health Officer, Nanjangud, Dr S.R. Nagendra, who allegedly committed suicide on 20 August.
The protesting doctors alleged that Nagendra took his life as he was “frustrated due to harassment by his seniors”. They even sought the intervention of Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to probe the matter.
They withdrew their protest on 23 August after minister Sudhakar landed in Mysuru and promised an unbiased investigation into the doctor’s death.
On 30 June, government doctors had resigned en masse, demanding a salary hike of Rs 60,000 from Rs 45,000, and regularisation of their jobs.
Wearing black badges, 600 MBBS doctors had given an ultimatum to Health Minister Sriramulu to either accept their demands or their resignations. They withdrew their protest after Sriramulu promised to regularise their jobs, with a rider — they must perform to become permanent employees.
On 17 July, 233 doctors in Davanagere district went on an indefinite strike for nearly a fortnight to demand release of their stipends pending for nearly 16 months.
The protesting doctors included 130 postgraduate AYUSH doctors and 93 interns admitted under the ‘government quota’. They claimed that even when they had been attending to emergency services across the district, they were not paid their stipends. But those who completed their course under the management quota were given their stipend, they alleged.
They withdrew their protest after the government assured to release their pending stipends.
Also read: India’s healthcare workers are the most vulnerable, but there is no framework for their health