SAMBALPUR: House surgeons of VIMSAR, Burla on Monday joined duty wearing black badges over the demand to increase their stipend. Stipend of house surgeons should be revised every three years. In VIMSAR, the stipend was last revised in 2019 and increased to Rs 28,000. The house surgeons said it should have been revised again in 2022. However, no step has been taken in this regard even after one year.
General secretary of the house surgeon union of VIMSAR Rohan Nayak said, “On May 15 this year, we had approached the health minister, secretary and the director of medical education and training (DMET) over the demand. We were given assurance that necessary steps will be taken in this regard by August 1. However, our stipend is yet to be revised.”
The house surgeons threatened that if no decision is taken on stipend revision within one week, they will resort to cease-work protest. Nayak said house surgeons of all seven medical colleges in the state will resort to agitation over the demand to increase the stipend to `40,000. There are around 150 house surgeons in VIMSAR.