Demanding pay revision, arrears due since 2016: Kerala Doctors to observe betrayal day on 3rd March

Previously Medical Dialogues reported that KGMCTA had called for the strike alleging that the government had not given any assurance on providing arrears while implementing pay revision. KGMCTA elaborated that the pay revision, which was due in 2016, was done only in 2020 and the government had assured that the wage revision would have a retrospective effect from January 1, 2016. But, it had not given any commitment on arrears. The organization has been demanding that the government should take immediate steps to ensure that the teachers of the government medical college are not dragged down the path of the strike.

KGMCTA issued a press release recently where the association's president, Dr. Binoy stated that the government had insulted the doctors by not paying their dues and allowances in full.

Supporting him, state Secretary of KGMCTA, Dr. Nirmal Bhaskar stated that the " government had humiliated them by throwing out the nominal benefits to medical college doctors who had tried to save the state from the COVID tragedy by sacrificing even their own lives while giving a decent pay hike to all other employees in the state."

 "Government Medical College doctors had been on strike since the end of January to collect their salary arrears, including allowance due during this period. However, the organization was careful to avoid protests that would cause inconvenience to the public seeking treatment in hospitals. The government has exploited the humanitarian position of the doctors who went to the tolerant strike and deceived the doctors by avoiding the direct methods of struggle that are bothering the people, even though they could have stopped the patient care and struggled," the association stated.

The association also mentioned that in order to negotiate the matter the government had already meeting chaired by the health minister just before the start of the indefinite strike, as the government was well aware of the fact that if the doctors in the medical colleges went on an indefinite strike, the functioning of the medical colleges would come to a standstill. " The minister asked the government to postpone the strike for two weeks on the basis of assurances given by the government in that discussion. Thus, the organization postponed the indefinite strike so as not to embarrass the public in the belief that the government would keep its promise", read the press release.

"The organization realized that the compromise proposal put forward by the government was just a ploy planned by the government to put an end to the strike and save the face of the government," Dr Binoy stated in the press release. However, the doctors waited for two weeks but the government did not take any initiative to clear the dues. The organization was ready for another round of talks at the request of the health minister's office. According to the association, conversations were made with Health Minister KK Shailaja and Finance Minister Thomas Isaac. In those discussions, both made it clear that they would pay the arrears to the doctors.

The association has been disappointed by the " hollow promises" made by the government. KGMCTA further added, " When the Government of Kerala bagged the awards for COVID treatment, the government alone conveniently forgot that it was the result of the efforts of about two thousand doctors in government medical colleges. KGMCTA leaders reminded the government that the reason why Kerala has the lowest COVID mortality rate in the country was the excellent service of doctors in government medical colleges and the government should not forget that."

Dr. Binoy told Medical Dialogues, " It is betrayal and we will hold a protest against this on 3rd March. After that, we will decide how to further proceed with the matter and what will be the association's next plan to demand the arrear."