TN Govt doctors go on hunger strike seeking implementation of GO ensuring allowances

Chennai: Raising their voice against the state government’s lack of concern, Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association (TNGDA) members went on a one-day hunger strike on Thursday, demanding the implementation of Government Order (G.O.) 293 that grants allowances to doctors.

According to a report in TNIE, over 300 doctors, including state and district office bearers of the association, participated in the hunger strike near Rajarathinam Stadium in Chennai.

The protesting doctors have threatened to boycott outpatient services on March 29 if GO 293 is not implemented on time. After this, the government doctors would go on one-day casual leave as a sign of protest on April 5.

Although the doctors have been fighting for years for the implementation of the GO, there has been no solid response from the government, leading them to carry out the protest on the streets.

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Meanwhile, the Director of Medical Education has asked the deans of all medical colleges to get willingness letters from the doctors who want specialty allowance. The decision was taken in a virtual meeting with the deans of all the medical colleges while the doctors were holding their protest.

The protesting doctors have been asked to submit letters mentioning that they are willing to accept the specialty allowance as per GO 293. The benefits of GO 293 will be given only based on the willingness letters submitted by the doctors.

The Chief Minister issued the Government Order 293 for payment of incentives totaling around ₹200 crores a year within one month of assuming office on June 18, 2021. But the G.O. has not been implemented so far. It has been stated that the government doctors lost from ₹75,000 to ₹4 lakh due to non-implementation of the G.O.

It has been reported that members of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Tamil Nadu, extended support to the protesting doctors.

Dr K Senthil, president of TNGDA, said, “All we want is the implementation of GO 293. Since the DME now orally instructed all the deans to get a willingness letter from doctors wishing to opt for specialty allowance, we will wait and see how this will go and then will decide on the next course of action.”

“We kept demanding advancement of promotions as per Government Order 354, but the State government did not accept our demands. Instead, the government offered us G.O. 293. We are demanding implementation of this order as doctors should get the maximum benefits,” Dr Senthil told TH.

On the other hand, members of the Service Doctors and Post Graduates Association (SDPGA) are against the state government’s decision to implement GO 293 instead of GO 354. Government order 354 was notified in 2009 during the DMK period, stating that State government doctors will be given salaries on par with the Central government doctors.

The opposition doctors who are in support of GO 354 had urged the protesting doctors not to submit the willingness letter for the implementation of GO 293 since it would affect MBBS doctors working in Primary Health Centres and non-clinical doctors.

A senior doctor pointed out that periodic review of G.O. 354 would reflect in their basic pay and dearness allowance and will have pension benefits, whereas G.O. 293 would only provide allowances like that of contractual perks.

Condemning the move, M. Akilan, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers’ Association, said, “We will never accept a biased G.O. like this. It divides doctors into scarce and non-scarce specialties for granting allowances. In fact, we filed a petition in the court against the implementation of G.O. 293 on February 10, 2023, and the department cannot go ahead with the implementation when the case has been filed.”

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