Jagan asks Chandrababu to hold talks with striking junior doctors

YSRCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy urged Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to hold talks with striking junior doctors and resolve their demand for a stipend hike. He criticised the government for allegedly delaying the revision and weakening the public healthcare system.

Amaravati: Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday urged Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to resolve the demands of striking junior doctors and ensure that poor patients do not face inconvenience at government hospitals.

Jagan urged the Chief Minister to immediately invite representatives of the junior doctors for talks, increase their stipends and take steps to end the strike.

---

Taking to X, the YSRCP chief questioned the government over the continuing protest by junior doctors.

“Will you force junior doctors, who save lives, onto the streets and put the lives of poor patients at risk?” he asked.

Nearly 9,000 interns, postgraduate doctors, super-speciality doctors and senior residents from 19 government medical colleges across the State have been protesting for the past two weeks. Jagan questioned why the government had not responded to their demands and why it had withheld the revision of stipends that, according to him, was due from January 1.

He referred to GO No. 287, which provides for a 15 per cent increase in the stipend of junior doctors every two years. Jagan claimed that the previous YSRCP government had increased the stipend by 42.4 per cent.

He said the previous government had also recognised those pursuing super-speciality courses as senior residents and increased their stipends, resulting in an overall increase of 77 per cent. He further claimed that the stipends of AYUSH junior doctors were increased on par with those of allopathic junior doctors.

Jagan said the junior doctors were seeking a hike of more than 15 per cent in view of rising prices, inflation and the increased cost of living. He alleged that the government’s proposal to increase stipends by only 3 to 5 per cent was unfair.

“Government teaching hospitals depend heavily on the hard work of junior doctors to provide medical services. Now, due to the strike, even emergency services such as casualty, ICUs and labour rooms are being affected, causing serious hardship to poor patients,” he said.

Jagan alleged that the government’s “stubborn attitude” was responsible for the situation. He also claimed that the Aarogyasri network hospitals were struggling due to pending dues and that the government healthcare system had been weakened.

The YSRCP president said the previous government had taken up 17 new government medical colleges simultaneously, completed five and started classes there. Another medical college was also made ready for classes, taking the total number of operational colleges to six, he claimed.

Instead of completing the remaining colleges, the government was allegedly trying to sell them off, he said. Jagan also alleged that Nadu-Nedu works in government teaching and other hospitals had been stopped and that government hospitals were facing shortages of medicines meeting WHO/GMP standards.

He further alleged that the government had abandoned the zero-vacancy policy and was gradually reducing nearly 50,000 healthcare personnel appointed during the previous government.

Jagan also accused the government of weakening the Family Doctor programme, removing specialist doctors from Community Health Centres and rendering Village and Urban Clinics ineffective.

He alleged that the Aarogyasri scheme had been weakened and dues had accumulated to more than Rs 3,000 crore.

“Chandrababu garu, at least now, give up this arrogance,” Jagan said, urging the Chief Minister to resolve the junior doctors’ concerns and protect healthcare services for poor patients.