Doctors Upset with BMC Extension of Retirement Age, threaten to initiate Hunger Strike

Mumbai: Upset with the decision of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) extending the retirement age of medical teachers-cum-doctors from 62 years to 64 year, the protesting doctors associated with Mumbai Municipal Teachers Association (MMTA) have now warned the authorities to further intensify their protest.

Demanding the authorities to withdraw the circular extending the retirement limit, the association on Sunday threatened the authorities with en masse resignation and initiation of hunger strike.

The association has now decided to hold a protest at Azad Maidan on March 21 and it will be followed by a hunger strike on rotation basis by the protesting doctors.

The doctors are on strike after the BMC Commissioner raised the retirement age of medical teachers-cum-doctors last month. With this, BMC has aligned it with the retirement age at the State government medical colleges.

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As per the latest media report by the Times of India, back in 2015, when the state-run colleges were facing a shortage of manpower, the government authorities had increased the retirement age of medical teachers to 64 years. Citing similar reasons, a few deans from the BMC run colleges made a similar proposal last December and it got approved back in February.

However, the younger cadre of doctors are upset with the BMC decision in this regard as according to them, further extension of the retirement age will lead to further stagnation of younger individuals.

Last month on March 3, the doctors under MMTA had met with the BMC Commissioner Iqbal Chahal and requested him to reconsider his decision. MMTA pointed out that the decision created unrest among the medical teachers in BMC-run medical colleges and it could also affect the promotion of around 1,000 doctors.

While the Commissioner had assured them to consider their request and give a response within a week, even after two weeks the doctors have not heard from him. Commenting on this, the secretary of MMTA, Dr Ravindra Deokar told HT, “It has been more than two weeks and we have not heard anything from the commissioner. We have therefore decided to go ahead with our protest starting from March 21 and hunger strike on rotation.”

The doctors have also threatened to give mass resignations with one-month notice and they plan to serve it on March 30, adds TOI. Further referring to their plans of challenging the order legally, Dr. Ravindra Deokar mentioned that they are also trying to get support from other associations including MARD, Students Committee, Nursing and Paramedics associations, Class 3-4 associations.

"We require timely recruitment and promotions at junior levels and not extending service limit at the top," he further added. 

Referring to the issue, the member doctors of MMTA further pointed out that many medical teachers, especially lecturers appointed on contractual basis have been working for years without getting any benefits such as casual leaves.

“BMC has not filled the vacant posts and is continuing with the contractual posts for medical teachers where they are not getting promotions or facilities. Many have been working for more than 8-9 years. We are surprised that the commissioner has cleared the age extension without thinking about these contractual lectures and vacant posts as well. The system is stagnant. This decision will make it worse,” one MMTA member told the Hindustan Times.

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