VISAKHAPATNAM: Junior resident doctors of KGH, Visakhapatnam staged a protest on the hospital premises on Saturday alleging that they have not received their salaries and stipends for the past six months. Sharing the plight of the post-graduate doctors, Andhra Pradesh Junior Doctors’ Association (APJUDA) president Dr Deepchand said, “Our situation had been like this even before the Covid-19 crisis. We don’t get our stipends until we hold a strike. Even then only two-month salaries are credited,” he explained.
On an average, all those who are working as junior doctors, receive their remuneration once in six months. “Our main demand is that the pending salary be credited immediately and henceforth the payment of salaries and stipends be regularised,” Deepchand added.
Dr Kiran from the Orthopaedic department, a second-year PG student at KGH, alleged that almost all junior doctors had been working without leave since Covid-19 outbreak. “At least we should get our salaries on time just like other senior government doctors,” he said.
In view of the strike, the junior doctors blocked the outpatient wing, and admission of elective cases. However, the emergency ward stayed open. “We have relayed our demands to our principal and also to Collector V Vinay Chand. The strike will continue until all our demands are met,” Kiran said. Around 150 to 200 junior doctors gathered at the KGH gate and protested for nearly three hours.