Thiruvananthapuram: Post-graduate medicos in five government medical colleges who had been on an indefinite strike from January 25, demanding reduction in course fee, hike in stipend and better hospital facilities, withdrew their strike on Friday following talks with Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy.Representatives of the Kerala Medical Post Graduates' Association (KMPGA), who met Ms. Sreemathy here on Friday afternoon, later announced that they were withdrawing the strike as the Health Minister had given her word that the course fee for medical super specialty courses would be reduced and that the stipend for both PG medicos as well as those doing super specialty courses would be hiked.
Course fee
The Minister agreed to bring down the course fee for super specialty courses from the current figure of Rs.70,000. However, the course fee for PG medical courses would not be brought down.
The PG medicos claimed that Ms. Sreemathy had given them a promise about enhancing their stipend and that no action would be taken against them for boycotting hospital duties.
“The Minister said the stipend for PG medicos would be hiked from the current rate of Rs.18,500 to Rs.25,000 and the stipend for super specialty students would be hiked to Rs.30,000 from the current Rs.21,000. These would be effective from January itself. However, Ms. Sreemathy said that a formal announcement would be made only after the Budget,” a KMPGA representative said.
However, according to the office of the Health Minister, no commitment has been given to PG medicos regarding the stipend hike and the only promise given is about reviewing the hike in the course fee for super specialty courses.
Ms. Sreemathy told the students that a sum of Rs.15 crore had already been allocated for creating residential facilities for women resident doctors and that decisions regarding the improvement of facilities in medical college hospitals would be announced within a week.
The strike launched by over 1,800 PG students across the State had begun to affect the daily functioning of medical college hospitals.
Meanwhile, the house surgeons in government medical colleges who launched a stir on Thursday raising issues of better working conditions and regulating duty hours, are yet to make any announcement whether they intended to discontinue their strike. Their association submitted a memorandum of demands to the Minister on Friday.
