KGMCTA gives strike notice

The Kerala Government Medical College Teachers’ Association (KGMCTA) has given a strike notice to the government to protest against the latter’s attempts to run the newly created government medical colleges (GMCs) at Manjeri and Idukki by redeploying existing faculty posts from other GMCs instead of creating new posts.

On Friday, the Director of Medical Education issued a GO re-deploying 27 faculty posts from all cadres from the Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kottayam GMCs to the Idukki and Manjeri GMCs.

To hold dharna

KGMCTA general secretary Kavitha Ravi said a protest meeting and dharna would be held in front of the office of the Director of Medical Education on Saturday.

Dr. Ravi said while the KGMCTA did not intend to disrupt patient services immediately, doctors would stop pay-ward admissions and teaching of paramedical courses as an initial measure.

The government had in November last issued orders that 156 faculty posts in the GMCs be redeployed to the new GMCs in Manjeri and Idukki to make up for the faculty shortage there.

Patient load

The KGMCTA had opposed this and pointed out that the number of doctors in all the GMCs at present was hardly enough to cater to the growing number of patients.

Following high-level talks, the government had agreed that redeployment of faculty from old GMCs to the new ones at Idukki and Manjeri would be pursued only after taking into account the current patient load in each institution and the actual issues on ground.

“We will approach the Medical Council of India with a request that a simultaneous inspection of faculty posts be conducted at all eight GMCs so that the actual faculty posts in each institution and the actual requirement will be laid bare,” Dr. Ravi said.

The KGMCTA will intensify the agitation if the redeployment order was not withdrawn, she added.