BANGALORE: The 4,500- strong State Government Medical Officers’ Association, which had threatened a mass resignation, has convened a general body meeting on Monday to decide its future course of action.
The Association, which had submitted a charter of 14 demands to the State government, including enhancement of salaries and perks, regularisation of services and revamping of the department. Speaking to Express after a meeting with Health Minister U T Khader and senior Health Department officials, Association chairman Dr G A Srinivasa said, “We were able to convince the Minister that our demands were just and could be met.”
Charging that the Principal Secretary had misled the minister, he said Khader had promised to take up the matter with the Chief Minister and the Finance Department.
Maintaining that their demands were not unreasonable, he said that, among others, the Association had urged the government to continue all the posts of programme implementation in the Health Department and scale up the salaries of those working in the department on par with those serving in the state-run teaching hospitals.
Earlier in the day, Khader had said that the doctors were making unreasonable demands, which cannot be accepted. He had also appealed to the people not to panic and said alternative arrangements would be made to ensure that services were not disrupted.