Osmania junior doctors issue boycott threat over pending stipends

HYDERABAD: The Osmania Telangana Junior Doctors Association (TJUDA) has threatened to boycott their services beginning Monday, September 12 if their outstanding stipends are not paid.

In a statement, the junior doctors warned of their protest which will however exempt emergency care services.

According to the TJuda, first-year postgraduate residents are working tirelessly despite the fact that they have not received their stipends since February 1 this year. They also claimed that despite several representations to the relevant authorities, they had received no relief.

As a result, they have been forced to call for a strike and have decided to boycott their services beginning next Monday. When questioned, Dr S. Srikanth, president of the Osmania Telangana Junior Doctors Association, stated that even PG resident doctors in their final year had not received their stipends for the past seven months.

He further asserted that it was unfair to expect postgraduate doctors to work for free for seven consecutive months. Dr Srikanth said, "We will continue to wait for a few more days, and if our outstanding stipends are not paid, our ultimate resort will be to boycott our services to get our demands addressed".

Dr. K. Mahesh, President of the Health Care Reform Doctors Association (HRDA), stated, "It is a disgrace on the part of health department officials that they are unable to provide stipends to postgraduates, house surgeons and even contract assistant professors and medical officers on time." In recent review meetings, Health Minister, Harish Rao instructed health officials to streamline stipends through a centralised system. However, the situation remains unchanged till date, with payment dues of approximately seven months for PGs and dues of three months to contract assistant professors".

The regularisation of stipends for PGs and UGs is a long-pending issue, according to Dr. Karthik Nagula, President of the Telangana Junior Doctors Association (TJUDA), because the government is still using the outdated method of payments, which causes payment delays. The delayed payment of stipends has triggered mental stress in junior and senior resident doctors.

It appears that as long as the state government does not begin using latest payment services, we will continue to receive delayed stipends. Therefore, we request that the government put new payment systems in place so that everyone can receive their stipends on time, without any inconvenience, human error or laziness".

Dr. Shashikala Reddy, the principal of Osmania General Hospital, told Newstap: "Our clerk began putting together the bills when he was deputed to the DME office in June. On July 30, he received attendance reports from all departments as well as finished bills that were rejected by the system. We have again provided the necessary information in the new format, and the bills have been sent. We urged that the junior doctors wait until September 12, 2022."