THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Medical students in the state on Tuesday protested against the government’s decision to increase the retirement age of doctors in the medical colleges and medical offices in the Directorate of Health Services.
Thiruvananthapuram Medical College students, under the banner of Kerala Medicos Joint Action Council, took out a march to the Directorate of Medical Education. In other medical colleges, students held protest marches to the principal’s office.
Demanding the government withdraw from the decision to raise the retirement age, Joint Action Council state secretary Dr Mithun Mohan and Kerala Medical PG Association (KMPGA) state secretary Dr Rohit Krishna said the government should fill the posts instead of increasing the pension age.
The striking students demanded the filling up of entry-level cadre posts, creating new posts in medical colleges and in the Department of Health Services and to fill the posts from the existing PSC list.
The leaders said they will be forced into an indefinite strike if the government does not agree to their demands. The medical students are agitating under an action council which has members from the Kerala Medicos Association, Kerala Medical Postgraduates Association, Kerala House Surgeons Association, junior doctors forum and PSC rank-holders’ associations, among others.