Doctor's dispute hinders disease surveillance (Karnataka) - Over

[Ronan Kelly]

Government doctors stand firm



Staff Reporter



Package announced by the Cabinet fails to enthuse them

Doctors have decided to resign en masse on September 29

Government?s decisions just eyewash: KGMOA


Bangalore: Not convinced by the State Government?s package of increase in salaries announced on Friday, government doctors are firm on their stand to resign en masse on September 29. Thereafter, the doctors will give a 15-day period for the Government to accept their resignations.

The State Cabinet, which met here on Friday, announced a marginal upward revision in pay scales of the protesting doctors.

Those serving in rural areas, in-service doctors who have obtained postgraduate degrees and freshers among the doctors are all eligible for a higher pay varying between Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 10,000,$100-200 according to the Cabinet decision.

That apart, the Cabinet has also approved the regularisation of services of 590 contract doctors. Not satisfied with these steps, members of the Karnataka Government Medical Officers? Association (KGMOA) held a meeting to decide the future course of action.

Addressing presspersons on Friday, KGMOA president Dr. H.N. Ravindra said the executive committee of the association had decided to go ahead with the resignation plan.

?The Government?s decisions are just eyewash. The relief that has been announced is nowhere near the demands that we had placed. We have collected the resignation letters of nearly 4,000 doctors. The remaining 100-and-odd will also be obtained in the next two days and will be submitted to the Principal Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) I.R. Perumal on September 29,? Dr. Ravindra said.

Monthly reports

Pointing out that doctors had already stopped sending monthly reports to the Government from August 26, he said: ?All reports pertaining to National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), outbreak of malaria, filaria and other epidemic diseases and water samples have not been sent to the Government since August 26.?

After the doctors quit, all health schemes run by the Government, including Janani Suraksha, Prasuti Aaraike and Madilu, may come to a standstill. That apart, treatment of all medico-legal cases and post-mortems would also come to a halt, he explained.

KGMOA secretary G.A. Srinivas said except for regularising the services of contract doctors, none of the other demands had been fulfilled. ?The decisions taken are not even 20 per cent of the relief we had asked for,? he said.

Apart from regularisation of contract doctors, the protesters have been demanding incentives suitable to their profession, parity in pay scale, banning all future appointments of doctors on contract, and time-bound promotions. A high-level committee headed by Additional Chief Secretary Vatsala Watsa had been set up to look into the demands and come out with a package.

http://www.hindu.com/2009/09/26/stories/2009092660690400.htm

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Doctor's dispute hinders disease surveillance (Karnataka)

What?s up, doc? 4,000 quit today
TNN 29 September 2009, 12:57am IST


BANGALORE: Don?t fall sick after Oct 15. If you do, then be prepared to go to a private hospital.


Over 4,000 government doctors working in Bangalore and other districts and taluks will resign en masse on Tuesday. Reason? The huge disparity in salaries of government doctors in the health and family welfare department and the department of medical education.
They will serve a notice period till Oct 14. If their demands like filling up 2,000 vacancies and pay hike are not met, they will stop working from Oct 15. Their demand for regularization of contract doctors has been accepted; but they claim salaries are meagre compared to their workhours.

All the government hospitals in the city and the taluk- and district-level hospitals will be badly hit if the doctors go ahead with their plan to quit.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/bangalore/Whats-up-doc-4000-quit-today/articleshow/5066429.cms

[Shiloh]

Re: Doctor's dispute hinders disease surveillance (Karnataka)

Source: http://trak.in/news/over-3500-karnat...s-resign/8813/


Over 3,500 Karnataka government doctors resign

by Indo Asian News Service on September 29, 2009

Bangalore, Sep 29 (IANS) Over 3,500 Karnataka government doctors Tuesday submitted their resignation protesting the ?meagre? hike in salaries. The treatment of patients was, however, not affected as the doctors have given the government two weeks to either accept their demands or their resignations.

The doctors went ahead with their letters, rejecting the appeal of the state?s retiring Chief Secretary Sudhakar Rao to wait till Oct 4.

?Since 2005, the government has been giving such assurances. We rejected the chief secretary?s appeal at a meeting with him and 3,681 doctors submitted the resignation to the director of health and family welfare department,? G.A. Srinivas, a spokesperson for the doctors, told IANS.

Rao, husband of foreign secretary Nirupama Rao who retires as chief secretary Wednesday and has been appointed member of the Central Administrative Tribunal, called the doctors for a meeting as Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and his cabinet colleagues are out of Bangalore.

The entire state cabinet is in Suttur, about 150 km from here, for a three-day brain-storming session addressed by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley.

Srinivas said there was a possibility of a meeting with Yeddyurappa on Sunday.

?We told the chief secretary that instead of asking us to wait till Oct 4, let the government take decision by then,? Srinivas told IANS.

The doctors are demanding that their pay at entry level be nearly doubled, from the present Rs.18,500 per month to Rs.35,000 per month.

The government has offered a hike of between Rs.3,000 and Rs.8,000.

According to Srinivas, another 400 doctors would also submit their resignation in a day or two. They were asked to stay back in their hospitals across Karnataka so that treatment of patients was not affected.

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Doctor's dispute hinders disease surveillance (Karnataka)

Medical services affected
TNN 29 September 2009, 11:12pm IST
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MYSORE: Medical services were affected in the city when over 200 medical officers in the city went on mass leave as part of a state-wide protest.


Manju, a mother of five-year-old Vidya, was upset as she could not get treatment for her daughter who was suffering from fever at a PHC. She had to go to a private practitioner. Noor Sabha, 55, was disappointed as she had come walking from a distance of over 5 km.
In rural areas, scores of patients were stranded. At the PHC in Beerihundi, 10 km from the city, several patients were frustrated and returned home without treatment. Some took treatment at nearby private health centres. Everyday, a minimum of 100 patients from the surrounding 21 villages, including Jettihundi and Gohalli, are examined at the PHC.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/mysore/Medical-services-affected/articleshow/5069423.cms

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Doctor's dispute hinders disease surveillance (Karnataka)

Doctors? strike hits patients

Special Correspondent

CHICKABALLAPUR: Several patients were put to inconvenience as most of the doctors at the Chickaballapur District Hospital stayed away from work on Tuesday and went to Bangalore to submit their resignations in view of a Statewide protest by government doctors.

District Health and Family Welfare Officer Rajeev told The Hindu that they could not attend to all the patients as only three doctors were on duty at the hospital.

According to hospital sources, an anaesthetist and a gynaecologist, in addition to a duty doctor, were on duty at the 100-bed hospital. While emergencies were not affected, several out patients, mainly those suffering from fever, headache, body ache and ENT problems had to return home without treatment, the sources said. Dr. Rajeev said although three AYUSH doctors from primary health centres were deputed to the district hospital, they were unable to cope with the number of patients.

A similar situation prevailed even at the taluk hospitals in Gauribidanur, Chintamani, Bagepalli, Gudibande and Shidlaghatta in the district. Only one doctor was available at each of these hospitals, he said. The sources said that on an average 600 outpatients were treated at the district hospital daily.

As a precaution, the hospital authorities had hired a few private doctors and their services would be utilised if the situation worsened.

Services hit


Kolar Staff Correspondent reports:

Medical services were hit in Kolar district on Tuesday. As most of the government doctors had gone to Bangalore to submit their resignations individually to the Principal Secretary (Health and Family Welfare), work at the primary health centres, general hospitals at taluk headquarters and Sri Narasimha Raja District Hospital here came to a standstill.

In all, 141 doctors from Kolar district had resigned.

Hundreds of people who came from rural areas to the district hospital were left in the lurch.

Only one doctor each at taluk hospitals and two doctors at district hospital stayed back to attend to the emergencies, District Health Officer (DHO) Rameshbabu told The Hindu.

However, work on some centrally sponsored heath care schemes were carried out as per schedule.

http://www.hindu.com/2009/09/30/stories/2009093054440500.htm

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Doctor's dispute hinders disease surveillance (Karnataka)

Govt hands doctors a hike of Rs 8,000
TNN 29 October 2009, 03:26am IST|

BANGALORE: No more en masse resignations. Chief minister B S Yeddyurappa on Wednesday extended a generous hand to recalcitrant government doctors,
and quietened their murmurs of discontent.

The doctors? long-pending demand for higher salaries and incentives was met and the hike ? an average Rs 8,000-9,000 ? was announced on Wednesday. Though salaries are not yet on a par with the one handed by the medical education department, the Karnataka Government Medical Officers? Association (KGMOA) is relieved.

Yeddyurappa met the doctors along with minister for medical education Ramachandra Gowda, health secretary M Madangopal, director of health and family welfare department Usha Vasunkar, and many others. He said that due to the recent floods, the state exchequer was running under loss, but he was grateful to the service the doctors had provided in the flood-hit zones of the state.

?Health and education are the priority of our government. So I have made the changes required to keep the doctors comfortable and happy,? the CM said.

Dr Dhananjay T N, executive committee member, KGMOA, said: ?We are not fully satisfied, but considering the financial problems the state is facing, we are happy that at least these changes have been made. The CM has assured us that in the next financial year, the rest of our demands will be considered. Since we have donated our allowance for three months for flood relief, we will receive the full amount from Jan.?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Govt-hands-doctors-a-hike-of-Rs-8000/articleshow/5174596.cms