The Outdoor Patient Department (OPD) of all the six medical colleges across Jharkhand will remain non-operational from Tuesday as resident doctors across the State have decided to go on an indefinite strike demanding payment of arrears of the seventh pay commission, which was implemented in 2016.
All the resident doctors in the six medical colleges – Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College Hospital (MGM) in Jamshedpur, SNMMCH in Dhanbad, Palamu Medical College, Hazaribag Medical College and Dumka Medical College – wore a black band since last Monday as a mark of protest against the alleged apathy of the government.
On Monday, the representatives of the Jharkhand Resident Doctors Association (JRDA) met RIMS Director Kameshwar Prasad and Health Secretary KK Soan, but the talks failed and the doctors decided to go ahead with a full-fledged strike. Prasad as well as Soan assured the doctors that their file will be sent to the finance department soon and necessary payments would be made, but the doctors were in no mood to accept further delay in the process.
“The government is only giving us false assurances. Resident doctors boycotted the OPD in all the medical colleges today, and we will continue to boycott OPD unless our demands are met,” said Convener of JRDA, Dr. Ajit Kumar.
Kumar said that the over 500 junior and senior resident doctors of the state have been waiting for the payment of their arrears of the seventh pay commission since 2016. The government, he said, was taking services from the doctors but not doing the needful to ensure that they get their dues.
RIMS Junior Doctors Association (JDA) member Dr. Vikash Kumar said that the doctors have raised their concern on different platforms, but the government left their please unheeded. “When we are getting the honour of being frontline workers, then our problems should also be heard,” he said.
The doctors have alleged that they were not paid salary as per the seventh pay commission since 2016 to March 2019. On an average, each doctor is entitled to payment of arrears worth in lakhs, they said.
The OPD in all the six medical colleges in Jharkhand are mostly run by resident doctors. The boycotting of the OPD by doctors is likely to affect patients who visit hospitals for minor ailments and injuries, sources said.
