Junior doctors in AP to boycott duty from June 9

VIJAYAWADA: Junior doctors in Andhra Pradesh have served a strike notice on the government by saying they would boycott all duties including covid care in a phased manner from June 9.

All medical postgraduates and house surgeons would join the protest to press the demands like ex-gratia/health insurance for all frontline workers, Covid incentives for all junior doctors including postgraduates and interns, a step-up of security measures in hospitals to prevent incidents and resolving of the TDS (tax cut) issue in the stipend pay.

The junior doctors will not attend duty dealing with non-Covid electives on June 9, Covid electives on June 10, non-covid emergencies on June 11 and Covid emergencies on June 12.

In the strike notice addressed to the director of medical education here on Monday, the junior doctors thanked the state government for responding to their plea and ordering a hike in the stipend for senior residents and also for considering payment of an equivalent stipend for the final-year post graduates.

However, they said their genuine demands for ex-gratia/insurance and Covid incentives were not yet addressed.

The junior doctors said it was not their motive to cause suffering to the common man and they were aware of the pain of the suffering people. Yet, they are upset that their main demands remained unattended.

The doctors said they had been involved in providing healthcare to the patients during the first wave of the pandemic and also extending the same in the second wave without getting any additional benefits. They did so at grave risk to their lives and this affected their academic pursuits.

Several neighbouring states, the doctors said, were extending incentives to Covid warriors, they said, and urged the chief minister to come to their rescue and resolve their issues so that they can avert the protest action.