Doctors resign en masse

More than 3,800 doctors of the state resigned seeking fulfilment of their demand of merger of incentives and the withdrawal of the government’s order to transfer district hospitals to the Medical Education Department.

According to Dr H N Ravindra, president of the Karnataka State Government Medical Officers’ Association, the highest resignations have come from Mysore which goes up to 221 followed by Tumkur (190) and Mandya (174).

“We are demanding the withdrawal of the government order under which 11 district hospitals will be transferred to the Medical Education Department. It robs the senior specialists of working with the Department of Health and Family Welfare (DHFW),” he said.

He also said that their present incentives ranging between Rs 3,000 and Rs 13,000 must be clubbed as a single ‘Specialists’ Allowance’.

He said, another option would be for the Medical Officers to get incentives amounting to 90 per cent of their basic pay, and specialist officers to get an incentive of 130 per cent of their basic pay. He accused the government of providing only ‘lip sympathy’.

“Right now there are only two or three specialists to see almost 500 out-patients in these hospitals. There is a vacancy of 55 per cent in the DHFW. The government must try and retain the doctors,” he noted.

He stated that if the demands are not fulfilled in the meet on August 9, the doctors will ‘quit Government service’, and discontinue their duties.

Health Minister Aravind Limbavali claimed that there will be no dearth of services during the period of resignation of the doctors.