Members of the Legal Coordination Committee for Government Doctors are planning to stage a demonstration in Madurai on October 20 and go on a fast in Chennai on November 10 to draw the attention of the Chief Minister to their long-pending demands.
The committee president S. Perumal Pillai, in a letter to the Health Secretary, demanded implementation of the Government Order (GO) 354 with arrears from 2017, the year in which it should have been reviewed. The G.O. stated grant of pay band-4 at 12 years of service. The committee demanded release of corpus fund G.O. with necessary amendments. The solatium should be ₹1 crore for both COVID-19 and non-COVID deaths.
The committee wanted the government to increase the solatium from ₹50 lakh to ₹1 crore for the families of all seven COVID-19 martyrs. It demanded immediate withdrawal of G.O. 4d (2) and reinstatement of voluntary retirement option at any age. Among other things, the panel demanded grant of the assured bonus of ₹30,000, restoration of dearness allowance arrears and post graduate increment.
It said medical officers should be provided special allowance and weekly off for mega COVID-19 vaccination camps held on Sunday. It demanded the government to drop its plan to grant special incentive to select doctors on the basis of work.
