Chennai: Doctors go on hunger strike

CHENNAI: Continuing the ongoing protests for implementation of their four-point charter of demands, several government doctors in the state gathered at Madras Medical College and went on an indefinite hunger strike at Madras Medical College on Friday. The move comes after the government's indifference to their plight despite their continued protest for almost over a year now. The fast which commenced at 12 noon at MMC saw the presence of over 100 doctors.

Apart from the implementation of DACP (Dynamic Assured Career Progression) under Government Order 354(2009) which would ensure pay hike for the doctors after 4, 9 and 13 years of service, they have also been demanding an increase in the strength of doctors in hospitals.

Elaborating on the immediate need to upscale the number of doctors, Dr Lakshminarasiman, President STGPA and convenor FOGDA said,” Every year 10 lakh surgeries are performed by the Directorate of Medical Education and another 10 lakh by the Directorate of Medical Services.  In addition to this, we perform two lakh caesarian surgeries every year and treat 10 crore outpatients and two crore, inpatients. Over the years, there has been a significant improvement in the quality of medical services as well as the number of patients being admitted to government hospitals. Despite the steady patient inflow, a GO was issued last year to downsize the number of doctors.”, he alleges.

He says though this move is in accordance with the MCI(Medical Council of India) norms, the GO has been passed without considering the actual scenario in the state. The MCI norms allow and allot a particular number of doctors for a fixed 500 beds. (approximately). Erstwhile, the number of beds in the state government hospitals ranges anywhere between 800 to 3,000. This means doctors meant to treat 500 patients will now have to cater to the additional hundreds.” This will severely affect the patients, overburden doctors and hamper the quality of healthcare”, said Dr Lakshminarasiman with concern.

 An ordinance to allow 50 per cent of postgraduate seats to service quota candidates was also among their demands. “This was in existence for 25 years. It was only after the introduction of NEET that this provision was nullified”, he added. Counselling for posting and relocation of service postgraduates was their other demand.

 Interestingly, following the doctors' protest at Kalaivanar Arangam, Chepauk last year which saw nearly 6,000 doctors flocking to the venue, a committee comprising the then health secretary and members from three departments - DMS, DPS and DME - had been conceived. After studying the salary trend of government doctors in various states, the committee had come to a unanimous conclusion that the disparity in TN's government doctors' salary had to be addressed immediately and had recommended the same to the government. Despite the CM's nod to implement DACP, no action was initiated, say doctors.

 A public interest litigation case had also been filed in the Madurai bench of Madras High Court earlier this year in which the court had ruled in favour of the doctors. The court had also directed the government to prevent any further delay in implementing the recommendations of the joint committee.

 “We are not asking for a fresh GO. We are only demanding the implementation of an already existing one. This will hardly cost the government Rs 300 crores of the health budget. This is not a huge amount considering the fact that government doctors contribute Rs 2,200 crores to the government under the CM's health insurance scheme”, reasons Dr Lakshminarasiman.