BENGALURU: With the government not meeting their demands, 1,800 Ayush doctors in the Health and Family Welfare Department resigned on Thursday. Since the government has sought four days time, they will wait till Monday but not work. A meeting in May with Health Minister Sriramulu had left them hopeful. But as there was no outcome, they decided to resign.
Equal pay on par with MBBS doctors, allowing private Ayush medical practitioners to give out allopathic medicines are their major demands. As these doctors too are playing a role in Covid-19 management, their resignations are expected to hit Covid services.
“There are Ayush doctors working against sanctioned MBBS posts, Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram doctors and Ayush doctors under the National Health Mission who are on contract basis, working without insurance and PF. Ayush doctors get Rs 19,404, Bal Swasthya doctors get Rs 25,000 and those against MBBS posts get Rs 26,000. However, the salary of doctors in the Ayush department is Rs 52,000.
We want equal pay,” said Dr Madhukar, who was working in a PHC in Tumakuru district and is a member of Karnataka Ayush Medical Officers Association. The association is backed by 27,000 Ayush practitioners in Karnataka under the banner of Ayush Federation of India.
They want compensation of Rs 50 lakh if they die on Covid duty. Several Ayush practitioners have tested positive while attending to Covid patients in fever clinics, PHCs, quarantine centres and hospitals.
Dr Mahaveer, state secretary, Ayush Federation of India, said, “We wanted integrated practice for private Ayush doctors. A rule was brought in that allowed government Ayush doctors to prescribe allopathic medicines but it was not extended to private practitioners. The government is using our services for free for Covid-19 management, but not meeting our demands.”