Around 750 doctors on protest in Uttarakhand demanding stipend hike

Haldwani: PG doctors are on a statewide protest demanding a stipend hike, with their agitation entering its eighth day today at government medical colleges across Uttarakhand.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the resident doctors currently receive between Rs 69,820 and Rs 71,257 per month and have demanded Rs 90,000 and upwards, depending on the year, for PG doctors, and Rs 1 lakh for senior resident doctors.

The medicos are demanding a stipend increase, claiming that their current stipend is extremely low considering their responsibilities, workload and long duty hours, and that they are not seeking any special facilities but fair remuneration.

Also read- Uttarakhand doctors' strike continues- MBBS interns demand Rs 30,000 stipend, PG residents Rs 1 lakh per month

According to the latest TOI report, around 750 medicos are currently participating in the statewide protest after MBBS interns resumed work on Saturday following the Uttarakhand cabinet’s decision on Friday to increase their monthly stipend from Rs 17,000 to a minimum of Rs 25,000 across five govt medical colleges..

The doctors have said that they will not call off their strike until the government issues an order revising their stipend.

At Sushila Tiwari Hospital (STH) in Haldwani, postgraduate doctors staged a demonstration on the hospital premises on Saturday and stayed away from routine OPD duties between 8 am and 11 am. Doctors from the anaesthesia department also joined the strike. The OPD registration system at the hospital was also shut for around an hour, leaving patients unable to obtain prescription slips and access routine consultations. The registration system was restored after the hospital administration held talks with the protesting doctors, although the agitation continued.

Later in the evening, the doctors in Haldwani took out a peaceful candlelight march from Buddha Chowk to the city magistrate’s office and back without disrupting traffic.

Meanwhile, Government Medical College principal Dr Ajay Arya told TOI, "The protesters had been asked to limit their demonstration to two hours from the next day. They were also asked to shift the protest outside the hospital campus as it was not a designated protest site. Buddha Park was suggested as an alternative venue, and the doctors were warned of possible action if they continued protesting on the hospital premises."

Dr Arya also held a meeting with heads of departments and directed them to ensure uninterrupted patient care. Consultants were asked to attend to as many patients as possible to compensate for the absence of PG doctors.

The protest has also affected services at other government medical colleges in the state.

At Doon Medical College Hospital, senior and junior residents intensified their protest and stalled patient registration for around 30 minutes. Medical Education Director Dr Ashutosh Sayana and college principal Dr Geeta Jain met members of the Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) and appealed to them to call off the protest.

The doctors, however, continued their 24-hour strike after the authorities did not provide written assurance of an increase in their monthly stipend. At Almora Medical College, resident doctors continued their boycott of OPD services, elective surgeries and ward duties.

Commenting on the ongoing indefinite strike, the Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) confirmed that their agitation would continue.

Dr Rajdeep Bindra, RDA president, told TOI that "We only need an assurance that our stipend will be increased in the coming days or months, and we will call off the protest immediately. If the stipend of junior doctors can be increased, why can’t ours? Until then, we will continue to fight for our rights."

He further added, "In case of an emergency, we had already decided to handle patients peacefully and responsibly, and we have done exactly that. We respectfully requested the patients for their cooperation, and the majority supported us. Even during the protest, we continued to attend to serious patients without compromising their care. We want our concerns to be heard through peaceful dialogue while remaining in the hospital and continuing to fulfil our responsibilities."

In a post on social media platform X, the Uttarakhand Resident Doctors United wrote, "Pushed to the brink by years of unrevised stipends, PG resident doctors of Government Doon Medical College held a massive march today from the Doon OPD Block to the DM Office, Dehradun. ​80–100 hours of relentless frontline duty cannot be repaid with silence or empty verbal assurances. We demand an immediate, formal written Government Order (GO) for stipend revision. Heartfelt gratitude to the LIU (Local Intelligence Unit), Uttarakhand Police, and local administration for their cooperation, professionalism, and support in ensuring our peaceful march remained safe and orderly. We urgently request the leadership to intervene: @narendramodi ji @JPNadda ji @pushkardhami ji @SubodhUniyal1 ji. ​We appeal to all national doctors' associations and the entire medical fraternity across India to stand firmly with the resident doctors of Uttarakhand!"

Earlier, the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) India, in solidarity with the medicos, wrote to the Uttarakhand Chief Minister requesting for an increase in the monthly stipend of resident doctors to a minimum of Rs 1 lakh.

Also read- MBBS intern stipend hiked to Rs 25,000 in Uttarakhand, resident doctors' strike continues