Kerala medical college doctors temporarily end strike

The doctors of five medical colleges in Kerala, who were on a 'non-cooperation agitation' demanding better pay package, today decided to end their strike.

Announcing the decision after a meeting of the central executive committee of the Kerala Government College Teachers Association (KGMCTA) President Dr Varghese Thomas told reporters here the association had temporarily decided to end the agitation after they were called for talks with government. Talks will be held tomorrow at Thiruvananthapuram, he said.

State health minister PK Sreemathy had yesterday warned that strict action would be taken against striking doctors. Action would also be taken against those doctors who refuse to admit patients in paywards, she had said.

Hundreds of patients coming to medical college hospitals had been facing hardships as the doctors had decided not to treat out-patients in the society wards and paywards. The
association had last week after a meeting at Kochi decided to continue with their non-cooperation agitation.

The striking doctors had stated that the pay revision announced by government was not satisfactory and that anomalies should be rectified.

As per the revision, non-practising allowance of medical college teachers would go up by about 25% and patient care allowance by 15%. A medical college professor would get a salary exceeding Rs85,000 while associate professors would earn more than Rs77,000 a month and assistant professors would get over Rs50,000. The doctors cannot practicein private.