February 15 would mark the last working day of 4,199 doctors of govt hospitals.
Health services of the health and family welfare department would come to a standstill on February 15. Since the state government has not kept its promise of giving salary hikes to the medical officials, doctors have, once again, decided to withdraw their names from government services.
In a meeting held on Saturday, members of the Karnataka government medical officers’ association (KGMOA) decided to quit their services on February 15.
“If the state government fails to pass the order by February 10, at least 4,199 doctors in the department will resign,” said Dr Shaila Kumar, Secretary, KGMOA. “Last time, when we had resigned this way, the emergency services remained unaffected. But, this time, we won’t provide those services either.”
It was after years of appeals that the doctors had been promised pay hikes by the chief minister of the state, on October 28.
However, the promises made were nothing more than a formality on paper — in reality, the salaries remained the same.
To date, the government has not even issued a government order (GO) — the first step towards implementation of a declared hike.
Dr HN Ravindra, president, KGMOA, said that the GO has not been issued, in spite of the chief minister’s approval. On October 28, 4,199 doctors of the KGMOA had agreed with the government’s decision on their pay hikes, despite the fact that all their demands were not met.
About 3,850 doctors, who had submitted their resignation letters earlier, withdrew the same after meeting the CM. In fact, the incentives and allowances that the government had promised the doctors were supposed to be made applicable in the month of October itself. But the truth is that a small GO has also not been passed yet.
“We withdrew our resignations, even though all our demands were not considered. Taking into account, the flood situation in the state, we accepted the government’s proposal. 562 doctors, working in the health and family welfare department, were recruited on a contract basis. And, the CM had assured them that their services will be regularised. However, they are still contract doctors,” said the KGMOA convener. As per the sources, the file is held up in the finance department.
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