Government doctors threaten to resign

We will not succumb to their blackmail tactics, says govt.

October 24, 2014 12:08 am | Updated November 16, 2021 06:55 pm IST - Bangalore

Even as government doctors announced their plans to resign en masse on October 27 over wage disparity and irregular payment of salaries, Health Minister U.T. Khader and Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, N. Sivasailam said on Thursday the department would not succumb to the “blackmail” tactics of the doctors and “resignations would be accepted if they were submitted”.

“The department wants to weed out disgruntled employees who disturb the functioning of hospitals,” Mr. Sivasailam told reporters here.

T.A. Veerabhadraiah, president of the Karnataka State Government Medical Officers’ Association, said doctors had been urging the government, for the past several years, to resolve their demands. “After submitting the resignations on October 27, we will work for a month. We will leave if the government fails to take any action by then. If they accept our resignations, it is well and good,” he said. There are about 4,500 medical officers against the sanctioned posts of 6,000 in the State. “Our demands are in the interest of the public as the shortage of doctors is hitting the functioning of hospitals,” he said. Listing the demands, Dr. Veerabhadraiah said the government should fill vacancies in the hospitals on the lines of Tamil Nadu where recruitment was taken up once in three months.

Pay parity with doctors in the Medical Education Department, timely payment of salary, amendment to the transfer policy, and retaining district hospitals with the Health and Family Welfare Department were some of the other demands, he said.

Mr. Khader said the government had held discussions with the association in the past and had fulfilled most of their demands. On the alternative measures to be initiated, the Minister said, “Let them resign first. We are ready to face any situation.”

The Indian Medical Association’s State unit has extended its support to the doctors’ strike.

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