Hyderabad: Medicos in Andhra Pradesh today
stepped up their protest demanding hike in stipend and
threatened to boycott emergency services if the government
fails to come out with a proper response in 48 hours.
"The government has not responded to our justified
demands. We will be forced to boycott emergency services if
the government fails to give a positive response in 48 hours,"
Raghu Kishore, leader of the AP Junior Doctors Association,
said.
Medical students also held a demonstration at the premier
state-run Gandhi Hospital here selling vegetables, doing shoe
polish as mark of their protest.
"We are protesting in this way to make the point that we
have to do things like selling vegetables to supplement our
stipend," a medico said.
The medicos demand that the stipend be raised from over
Rs 5,000 to Rs 12,000 for house surgeons and from over Rs
8,000 to Rs 30,000 for post-graduate students.
The Junior Doctors Association, which has called the
stir, contended that the current stipend was much lower than
what is paid in other states.
The medicos also burnt an effigy of Minister for
Arogyasri Health Insurance Scheme P Satyanarayana in protest
against his remarks that the strike is "irresponsible".
The minister has said the protest by the junior doctors
would indirectly benefit corporate hospitals.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 22:37