Maha DMER assures Rs 10k stipend hike to resident doctors, strike called off

Mumbai: The resident doctors in Maharashtra have called off their strike, which was supposed to commence on Wednesday, after they received written assurance from the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) regarding their pending demands including proper hostel accommodation, timely payment of stipend, and a hike of monthly stipend of resident doctors by Rs 10 thousand.

However, if the Government fails to execute its promises in the coming 10 days, the residents will have no option but to initiate an All Out Pan Maharashtra indefinite strike, the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) mentioned in a press release issued on 07.02.2024.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the resident doctors across the government medical colleges in Maharashtra had threatened to go on an indefinite strike starting from February 07, 2024, if their demands regarding the hostel accommodation and regularisation of stipend were not met.

Writing to the Minister of Medical Education, Maharashtra, the Central Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) had mentioned that they wrote 28 letters to the medical education department. However, despite the assurance from the Government authorities, the issues raised by the resident doctors have not been addressed yet.

Referring to the state of healthcare in Maharashtra, the association highlighted that in every medical college of the State, there is a significant shortage of hostel premises and the residents have been living in severely compromised manner. There is no hostel accommodation for Senior Residents at most of the medical colleges in the State, Central MARD had pointed out. Besides, the association also claimed that almost across all the medical colleges, Residents are never paid their stipend on time. It had also expressed its grievances regarding being paid a lower stipend than most of the other States across the country.

The demands of the association were- the availability of adequate hostel accommodation for Junior and Senior Resident doctors, payment of stipend to resident doctors' bank accounts by 10th of every month with clearance of outstanding stipend till date, and payment of stipend at the same scale as that of Central Institutes.

While the pan-Maharashtra strike was scheduled to commence on 07.02.2024, the Central MARD had a momentous meeting with the Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Minister of Medical Education Hassan Mushrif and the Secretaries and office bearers of Medical Education, DMER, PWD and the Finance Ministry.

During the meeting, the president of Central MARD Dr. Abhijit Helge, General Secretary Dr. Rahul Munde, State Convenor Dr. Shubham Soni, Vice President Dr. Sarbik De and other members presented the demands of the resident doctors. Issuing a Press Release, MARD informed that they were heard in depth and the authorities were empathetic and "it was realised that the Resident's demands were legitimate".

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As per the release, after an elaborate discussion of more than 2 hours, the government made several decisions. The first one is to immediately grant necessary funds and fast-track all the PWD work across the State to ensure- completion of existing Hostel repair work, initiation of construction of new Hostel premises, arrangement of leased out buildings as a temporary substitute for hostel until new infrastructure is built.

Apart from these, the Government has also decided to introduce immediate regularisation in stipend payment with the release of all pending stipend and arrears of all resident doctors in the State, and also to ensure monthly payment of stipend henceforth and finance department to release the exact amount of requested funds every month.

Besides, the State has also decided to grant an immediate stipend hike of 10 thousand rupees to ensure the welfare of the resident doctors. Referring to these, MARD announced its decision to withhold the strike and mentioned, "The government assured us that the above promises will be made official within the next 2 days. We as Doctors, who took the step of strike as our last resort have decided that we will withhold our strike after all the above decisions were given in written by DMER. Patient care is of Paramount importance to us and we will continue to do our duties."

Warning to commence strike if the State fails to execute its promises in the coming 10 days, the release further mentioned, "However if the Government fails to execute its promises in the Next 10 Days then We, the Central Mard will be left with no option but to go on an All Out Pan Maharashtra Indefinite Strike."

Also Read: Maha Resident doctors demand Stipend regularisation, proper hostel accommodation, to go on Indefinite Strike from Feb 7