Telangana: Doctors associations express ire over delay in stipends

They have served notices to boycott outpatient duties and elective surgeries from December 19, due to pending release of stipends since September.

Hyderabad: The Telangana Junior Doctors Association (TJUDA) and Telangana Senior Resident Doctors Association (TSRDA) have served notices to boycott outpatient duties and elective surgeries from December 19, due to pending release of stipends since September. To this effect, the TJUDA and TSRDA submitted strike notices to Director of Medical Education (DME), Dr K Ramesh Reddy on Saturday.

The TJUDA said there was a delay in disbursement of stipends for second and third year junior residents and house surgeons, first year postgraduates and senior residents since September. The delay was causing financial distress among the junior doctors, the association said adding that despite multiple representations in DME office, to the Health Secretary, Finance Secretary and even the Health Minister, the stipends were not cleared.

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“Even in the past, our stipends were cleared only when JUDA repeatedly followed-up and pressurized the concerned authorities every month. As a last resort, junior doctors (interns/PGs) and senior residents have decided to go on strike from December 19,” it said.

The junior doctors and senior residents have also urged the authorities to appoint a person in-charge in the Finance department who would get the medical bills cleared within 24-hours of the cheques released.