The stir continues at Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad as the first-year Postgraduate resident doctors who joined the college in February 2022 have been protesting against the non-payment of stipends for months. The college adminstration issued a letter today, September 12 stating that the pending stipend bills for February to July 2022 will be cleared within three days.
Earlier, the students planned to boycott their duties from today, September 12 if their stipends were not paid by September 11.
After an emergency meeting was held with the principal and representatives from JUDA today, Dr Karthik Nagula, President of Telangana JUDA informed that they have not come up with a solution for regularising stipends yet. “They said that a notice will be given stating that the stipend will be given in two to three days,” he added.
As a result, the strike has now been postponed as they have been asked to wait for three days, said Srikanth Sativada, President of Osmania JUDA.
To jog your memory…
Earlier, Dr Srikanth Sativada, President of Osmania JUDA informed EdexLive that they cannot continue without funds for more than half a year. He said that the medicos took up the issue with the principal several times, and she has done everything she could for the stipends to be processed. However, it is the officials in charge who "neglect" their duties and make excuses and therefore, there is a delay, the President added.
He also added that the officials did not take their attendance properly nor filed the documentation required for processing the stipends. Additionally, several doctors have been struggling to pay for their food as well due to delays in stipends, the President said.
Not just junior doctors
In fact, earlier, the Senior Resident (SR) doctors in Telangana boycotted their duties to join a strike at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) at Erragadda on June 30. They were demanding that their stipends be paid and regularised. They said that the stipend has not been paid to many of them since November last year and for some, it has been three or four months that they haven't received their stipends.
The protesters claimed that the Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, Mahabubnagar Government Medical Hospital and the Institute of Mental Health are the institutions where stipends for SRs were released since November 2021.
