Government doctors, who had taken to the warpath in protest against the Government’s denial of allowances to doctors, have put their agitation on hold for a month, following talks with Health Minister Veena George on Monday.
Doctors, under the banner of Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association, who had been on a non-cooperation strike against the Government since the past one month, had announced their decision to intensify their agitation from November 1.
They had announced that they would go on a ‘Nilpu samaram’ or stand-up protest in front of the Secretariat from Monday and that on November 16, all doctors in the Health Service would protest by going on leave en masse.
However, on Monday morning, as soon as the doctors began their agitation in front of the Secretariat, they were called for talks with the Health Minister, the KGMOA said in a statement here .
Following assurances by Ms. George that the demands of doctors were placed before the Finance Minister and that the issues would be resolved favourably, the KGMOA had decided to withhold their protests for a month, the statement said.
While the proposed plan to go on casual leave en masse on November 16 has been postponed, the KGMOA will continue their non-cooperation strike. Doctors will continue to stay away from review meetings, training programmes, e-Sanjeevani clinics, and VIP duties.
The KGMOA had raised various grievances, including denial of risk allowance, slashing of basic pay at the entry cadre, stopping of personal pay and ratio promotion and denial of higher grade. It said that doctors were forced to intensify their agitation because of the continued disregard shown by the Government to their issues.
