Government doctors, under the banner of the Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA), is observing Sufferance Day on July 1, which is the Doctors’ Day, to protest against the failure of the administration to take pro-active steps to boost the morale of government doctors who have been fighting as front-line warriors against COVID-19. The KGMOA leaders said here that doctors would protest by working an additional hour on July 1. One of the demands of the KGMOA is that health workers be spared from the salary challenge and that additional incentives be given to health workers who have been working hard for the past three months on the COVID-19 front.
They demanded that additional human resources — doctors and other ancillary staff — be deployed in COVID-19 hospitals and COVID-19 firstline treatment centres in proportion to the increasing number of patients.
The government should take steps to ensure that the allocation to schemes such as Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) and Karunya Arogya Suraksha Paddhati (KASP) so that the functioning of main hospitals are not affected.
The KGMOA also demanded that adequate rest and recovery time be given for doctors engaged in COVID-19 care and that charge medical officers in periphery hospitals be allowed compensatory off days in place of the holidays they work.
It said the protest by doctors would not affect the functioning of hospitals in any way.
