Junior doctors' wait for stipend hike continues

Tirupati: The State government has been once again testing the patience of junior doctors working in government medical colleges by not hiking their stipends since January this year. Normally, their stipends will have to be revised once in every two years.

Accordingly, they are entitled to get the hike in stipend from January 1 this year as the previous hike was done in 2020, that too after their repeated requests and protests.

The junior doctors were lamenting that their stipends are the lowest compared to any other State and the successive governments have been ignoring their pleas to address this problem. Instead of hiking the stipends on par with at least the neighbouring States, the government was not even making the regular hike which has to be done once every two years. Even in 2018 and 2020 also, a decision on the hike was taken only after they went on protest path.

The government attitude seems to be not at all sympathetic towards their genuine demand as it has put the decision in abeyance for the last 10 months, they were saying. The president of APJUDA Dr Jangam Jeshwanth said that they have submitted several representations to the Minister for Health, Director of Medical Education and other officials requesting for hike in stipends.

He told The Hans India that they have even given strike notice last month to the DME but soon a new DME took charge. As it was not ethical to go on strike without giving them the time they have postponed their agitation but no progress was made even today. To bring pressure on the government the JUDA started a twitter campaign on their demand and want to take a decision on the action plan in a couple of days.

He said that there were severe anomalies in their stipends compared to other States. For instance, an internee in AP has been getting Rs 19,589 per month against the national average of Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000. In Telangana, internees were being paid Rs 22,527 whereas in Kerala they were getting Rs 25000. Further, in New Delhi it is Rs 45,000, Maharashtra Rs 35,000 and in Karnataka internee stipend stands at Rs 30,000.

Similar huge differences were there in the stipends of 1st, 2nd and 3rd year PG students as well.

For instance, a 1st year PG doctor has been getting Rs 44,075 in AP compared to Rs 50,686 in Telangana, Rs 53,000 in Kerala, Rs 45,000 in Karnataka, Rs 64,000 in Maharashtra and Rs one lakh in New Delhi. A third year PG doctor is getting Rs 48,973 in AP compared to Rs 56,319 in the neighbouring Telangana, he said. Keeping in view their hardships and their duties, the government should focus on the demand for stipend hike without any further delay and to correct the anomalies in the stipends, he felt.