Kerala Medical College doctors' hunger strike enters 30th day, patient services disrupted
Thiruvananthapuram: The ongoing strike by the Kerala Government Medical College Teachers' Association (KGMCTA) has now reached a critical phase, with the hunger strike entering its 30th day. The boycott of outpatient services and academic duties continues for the ninth consecutive day, further affecting routine functioning at government medical colleges.
A significant decline in patient attendance has been reported at medical colleges as postgraduate students alone are currently handling outpatient services amid an ongoing protest by doctors. The agitation, led by KGMCTA, has gathered momentum over what the association describes as persistent injustice.
The protest has also affected surgical services, with non-emergency procedures being boycotted for the sixth day. The impact on healthcare services and academic activities at medical colleges has become increasingly evident, leading to a drastic reduction in Outpatient (OP) and Inpatient (IP) services across Government Medical Colleges.
The protest has starkly reflected in the plummeting patient numbers across the state’s premier medical institutions. At Kozhikode Medical College, daily OP attendance has dropped from 4,000 patients to 1,200, while Trivandrum Medical College has seen a decline from 4,500 to approximately 2,500. At Alappuzha Medical College, the turnout has crashed from 4,000 to less than 1,000. This trend is mirrored across all other medical colleges, where both outpatient visits and inpatient admissions have faced a significant and widespread decline.
Since the Medical Faculty is participating in the protest, only PG students are currently providing outpatient services. This has resulted in patients receiving only temporary care, even in cases referred by senior doctors from other hospitals. As a result, patients requiring specialized care are forced to seek treatment at private hospitals. This trend is concerning as specialized and complex treatments in the public sector are primarily available at Medical Colleges.
To ensure patient safety in critical situations, Cancer surgeries, Trauma cases, and other emergency surgeries have been exempted from the strike. At Trivandrum Medical College, where 80 to 100 non-emergency surgeries were performed daily, the number has dropped to just 5 to 8. Casualty and essential services continue uninterrupted.
In a press release, the Association reiterated the grave injustice regarding salary arrears pending since 2016. “While authorities claim they are waiting for UGC grants, the KGMCTA clarifies that UGC grants are not applicable to Medical College doctors.Historically, salary revisions for Medical College doctors are implemented using State Government funds, where the UGC pattern is adapted and modified, incorporating NMC standards. It is highly discriminatory that while Arts and Science college teachers received their arrears from state funds in April 2019, Medical College teachers were denied the same,” the association stated in a press release.
The Health Minister has informed the Association that the Honourable Finance Minister has called for an official-level meeting tomorrow, involving the Secretaries of Health and Finance. The decision of the Finance Minister meeting is crucial in this meeting because the Secretaries of Health, Law, and Finance had earlier stated that there are no legal or administrative hurdles in paying the arrears, and the file was sent to the Finance Minister. The Association’s future course of action will be decided based on the outcome of tomorrow’s meeting. During a recent meeting with the Honourable Chief Minister, he had assured the office bearers of the association that he would discuss the matter with the finance minister.
Previously Mediuical Dialogues reported that KGMCTA decided to intensify its ongoing protest from February 16 over pending demands, including the rectification of anomalies in the pay revision order. While acknowledging that some partial positive steps have been taken, the association stated that the majority of its demands remain unresolved. The doctors launched an indefinite boycott of outpatient services, along with a suspension of academic activities after that.
