Sunday, July 5, 2009

Government doctors to observe token strike today

Staff Reporter
Demanding implementation of Sixth Pay Commission recommendations
TIRUCHI: Government doctors in Tiruchi district will take part in the one-day token strike called by the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association on July 6 (Monday) demanding Central pay scales.
Conveying this to the media here on Sunday, the president of the district branch of the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association S. Selvapandian said that 350 doctors working in Annal Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital in the Tiruchi, K.A.P. Viswanatham Government Medical College, Government Hospitals in 13 taluks, Government ESI Hospital and Primary Health Centres in the district will participate in the strike demanding the implementation of the Sixth Central Pay Commission recommendations for Government doctors in the State.
Dr. Selvapandian said the doctors would not conduct elective surgeries on July 6 at the hospitals and would stay off from ward rounds. There would not be outpatient services. However, emergency and life saving services would be maintained at the Annal Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital by a team, he said. Over 10,000 doctors across the State would join the strike on Monday.
Though the association had been insisting on rectification of disparity in pay and promotion opportunities of government doctors in Tamil Nadu in comparison with their counterparts in Central government and other States and highlighted the issues to the State government, their plea had been ignored. As a result, the association has been forced to resort to a token strike, he said.
Claiming that the salary paid to the government doctors in the State was the lowest in the country, he said what the Association had been demanding was a decent pay. “We are not asking for any allowances like the one given to Central government doctors but only Central pay scales,” Dr. Selvapandian said.
Though a time-bound promotion was in vogue for Central government doctors, the promotion for doctors in the State took a long time. The government doctors in the State were denied voluntary retirement even after completing 20 years, he alleged.


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