APJUDA to go on strike from Oct 26

Tirupati: After the Twitter campaign seeking the revision of stipend amount, AP Junior Doctors Association (APJUDA) is finally entering into direct action to bring pressure on the government. They have given strike notice to the government demanding a 42 per cent hike in their stipends and said that they desperately took the decision to boycott outpatient services (OPs) from October 26 and inpatient and elective duties from October 27.

The members of APJUDA (House Surgeons, Broad speciality PGs and Super speciality PGs) working in all the 11 government medical colleges will take part in the strike.

The president of APJUDA Dr J Jaswanth said that in fact they don't want to give strike notice but circumstances had forced them to do so.

He said that the government has been doing tremendous development in the health department and recalled that it has recruited specialist doctors during Covid with the highest pay scales. There was no dearth of oxygen in government hospitals in the peak of the second wave.

He said coming up with 16 new government medical colleges in the state is a boon to students aspiring medicine and reducing fees of A & B category in private medical colleges is another remarkable step.

Regular recruitment of doctors was also being done. Yet, the plight of junior doctors continued as ever. He underlined that the nationwide average stipend of house surgeons, broad speciality PGs and speciality PGs is much above what the junior doctors are getting in AP and this anomaly must be corrected. He said that there are no other demands but the impending stipend hike is their only issue now.