Hyderabad: Doctors protest retirement age hike

Hyderabad: The protest in government teaching hospitals continued on Friday and patients had to wait for long hours as senior doctors had to attend to too many patients.

The striking doctors held a rally in the premises of the college and hospital and also staged a sit-in inside the hospital premises. The junior doctors have called for a hunger strike to support their demand that the government must not increase the age of retirement of doctors.

The seven year increase in the age of retirement is going to impact the junior and younger specialists who will not get entry into the public sector.

Dr P.S. Vijender, chairman, Telangana Junior Doctors’ Association explained, “For the post of 49 specialist doctors, 202 young doctors have appeared for the interview.  The health administration  is misleading the government that young doctors are not interested in government jobs. This is a completely wrong , and the government has to look beyond to understand that new aspiring doctors want to work in the public sector.”

There are not sufficient doctors in the Telangana Vaidya Vidhyarthi Parishad and this is because of the mismanagement of the administration and failure of the government in conducting counselling for the aspirants, according to the Association.

Junior doctors state that the government has to look into the issues that are affecting the public health sector and rectify them rather than looking at short-cut methods to control the problem.

The technological advances in healthcare require young doctors who are able to understand the technology and take it forward to the next level which will improve patient management and care, the doctors say.