THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Hinting at another possibility of a muddle in the public healthcare sector, the Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA) on Saturday came out with the allegation that the state government has backed out from the agreement it reached with them.
Though the KGMOA indicated that it might be forced to go back to its earlier decision of non-cooperation towards programmes like Ardram Mission, it is learnt a final call on the stance to be taken on the issue will only be decided after the state committee meeting scheduled to be held at Pathanamthitta on May 13.
“The government has let down the doctors’ community. When we called off our four-day strike on April 16, the government had promised that the issues that we raised will be looked upon. But even after 20 days, the government is yet to fulfil its promises,” said Jithesh V, general secretary, KGMOA.
According to KGMOA, while calling off its strike call after a three-hour-long conciliatory talk with Health Minister K K Shylaja on April 16, the latter had promised that a committee headed by the Health Secretary will be constituted to hold talks with KGMOA representatives.
That discussion was supposed to be followed by a minister-level meeting in the first week of May. “But the fact is that the government was not able to keep even one of its promises. The committee has not yet been constituted and the minister has not called us for a meeting,” Jithesh said.