Gujarat: Thousands of Resident Doctors Cease Work demanding stipend hike

Ahmedabad: Accusing the State Health Department of not fulfilling their promise of a 40 percent stipend hike, around 1,200 resident doctors belonging to Ahmedabad Civil Hospital in Gujarat went on an indefinite strike on Monday demanding a hike in stipend.

Services were affected despite authorities making alternate arrangements in view of the strike, with patients and kin complaining of long wait at the Aswara-based facility, which is attached to BJ Medical College and is the largest in the state, PTI has reported. 

As per resident doctors, they will stay away from all duties, including trauma care, emergency and outpatient department (OPD) services as part of the strike until an amicable solution is found.

The resident doctors initiated the strike two days after the Gujarat Government ordered an approximately 20% stipend hike for the interns and resident doctors in all streams. As per the Government Order, this 20% stipend hike will have retrospective effect from April 1, 2024. However, the junior doctors are demanding a 40% stipend hike instead of the 20% granted by the State.

Also Read: Over 4,000 Karnataka Doctors On Strike Demanding Stipend Hike

As per the latest media report by Indian Express, none of the other junior doctors' association across 18 different medical colleges have joined the strike. Meanwhile issuing a statement on Sunday described the demands "unjustified" and mentioned that Gujarat is a "leader" in paying stipends to doctors.

Writing to the authorities on Sunday, the JDA had mentioned that they will initiate cease work after losing trust in the Government. "We have lost trust in the government. Hence we, all the students of BJ Medical College have been forced to stay away from all our duties on the path shown by Gandhi, from September 2, 2024 (Monday)," the doctors had mentioned.

In the letter, the JDA further pointed out that they had been making representations to the Government for the past six months. According to the representations by the doctors, the stopend of junior doctors get increased by 40% every three months. However, last this stipend increase was done on April 1, 2021. Thereafter, more than 3 years have passed but the doctors are still waiting for the 40% stipend hike. Citing this as the reason, the junior doctors said that their demand was for an increase of 40% in the stipend from April 1 onwards.

"In a meeting with the Health Minister on July 9, 2024, we were assured of a 40% increase in stipend. So the movement was postponed by trusting the democratic government. After 10 to 12 consecutive visits and the last six months of hard work and full faith in the Govt, (it) gave only an unsatisfactory increase of 20%," stated their letter.

"The state health department had agreed to increasing stipend by 40 per cent every three years. This hike was supposed to come into effect from April 1. It was, however, not implemented till July after which we met state health minister Rushikesh Patel. We had postponed our stir then after getting an assurance about its implementation," said Dr Dhaval Gameti, president of the Junior Doctors' Association of BJ Medical College.

"We have been forced to go on an indefinite strike now because we have learnt the state government has only given a 20 per cent hike, which is half of what was promised. Moreover, the state government has now said the stipend will be revised every five years instead of three years. This is not acceptable as the government has gone back on its promise," Gameti claimed.

PTI has reported that the strike has caused hardships to people, with a person saying he had got his kin from Rajkot for jaundice treatment but was told about the unavailability of doctors. "We will have to come another day after waiting in the corridors for several hours," the kin said.

Speaking about the situation, Civil Hospital Additional Medical Superintendent Rajnish Patel said, "The leaves of all medical and non-medical staff has been cancelled. We have made adjustments in duty allocation to attend patients. We have called in doctors from other district hospitals to compensate for the shortfall. At present, 130 medical officers are on duty."

In a statement, state Health Minister Rushikesh Patel criticised resident doctors for demanding a 40 per cent hike. "From September 1, we have decided to give a 20 per cent hike. Stipend paid to resident doctors in Gujarat is among the highest in the country. With this hike, doctors will now get nearly Rs 1.30 lakh per month as stipend. In many states, stipend ranges between Rs 40,000 to Rs 70,000 per month. Moreover, this stipend is totally tax free," Patel said.

Also Read: 25 percent Stipend Hike for Resident Doctors In Karnataka