Telangana Junior Doctors temporarily suspend strike, Govt releases GO on demands

Hyderabad: The Telangana Junior Doctors Association (T-JUDA) have temporarily suspended their indefinite strike across all government medical colleges in the state, which started on Monday.  

Boycotting outpatient (OPD) services, elective surgeries and ward duties, the junior doctors have demanded a solution to their unresolved issues concerning the doctors, including the establishment of a green channel for timely stipend disbursement and inadequate honorarium for Super Specialty Senior Residents as primary grievances.  

Junior doctors working in government hospitals across Telangana, barring those serving in Osmania Hospital, temporarily called off their indefinite strike on Wednesday.

According to the IANS report, following talks with the Director of Medical Education and the officials of the health department late on Tuesday night, Telangana Junior Doctors Association (T-JUDA) decided to call off the strike for now.

Leaders of T-JUDA said they would wait till Wednesday evening for the government to issue orders, accepting their demands. They warned that if the government failed to issue the GOs, they would resume the strike from Thursday. 

The talks between T-JUDA leaders and Director of Medical Education (DME) Dr N Vani and other officials continued till late Tuesday night.

The officials gave an assurance on road repairs at Kakatiya Medical College in Warangal and the introduction of college buses, news agency IANS reported.

As per a media report in The Hindu, The G.O., issued by Health Secretary Christina Z Chongthu, allocates ₹204.85 crore to the Director of Medical Education (DME) for civil works at OMC, GMC, and KMC through the Telangana Medical Services Infrastructure Development Corporation (TGMSIDC). The sanctioned amount includes Rs 121.9 crore for Osmania Medical College, Rs 79.5 crore for Gandhi Medical College and Rs 3.45 crore for the construction of internal cement concrete roads at Kakatiya Medical College.

The junior doctors had been boycotting outpatient services, elective surgeries, and ward duties. However, they were attending emergency duties.

The government had also given assurances on the demands for the establishment of a green channel for timely stipend disbursement, honorarium for super-speciality senior residents, and deployment of police personnel to prevent violence against doctors in hospitals.