Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Doctors call off stir after Minister’s assurance
Demands on pay, promotions to be met by govt., says Vijayabaskar


28/08/2019, STAFF REPORTER,CHENNAI


With four of the six doctors hospitalised, two continued their fast despite poor health on Tuesday. R. Ragu

After several hours of negotiations on Tuesday, the Federation of Government Doctors Association (FOGDA) withdrew their protest after the Health Minister assured them that their demands for reviewing Government Order 354 and invoking the prospective clause that guaranteed remuneration hikes and promotions in six weeks would be met. With this, the indefinite fast launched by a group of doctors came to an end.

As FOGDA announced a token strike on Tuesday, Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar convened talks with its representatives at noon. At about 10 p.m., a consensus was reached, and FOGDA decided to withdraw the protest.

The Health Minister said the government would take a decision in favour of the doctors to review G.O. 354 and invoke its prospective clause in six weeks.

“As stated in the Assembly, the government was already favourably considering the demands raised by the doctors. The other demands such as G.O. 4D -2 will also be considered. We will continue to stress on 50% service quota for PG and super specialty courses with the Central government,” he said.

The demands would be conveyed to the Chief Minister and a favourable decision taken, he said, adding that K. Senthil Raj, project director of Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society, would review the process once in two weeks. “It will be taken forward to the CM and the finance department for approval at the earliest,” he said.

A. Ramalingam, convenor of FOGDA, said that they have decided to withdraw the strike following an assurance to review G.O. 354 and invoke the prospective clause. The G.O. was due for review in 2017, he said.

Referring to G.O. 4D-2 that restructured posts of doctors, Lakshmi Narasimhan of FOGDA, said they were demanding that the posts of doctors should not be reduced, and should be maintained according to the patient load. “The government has assured that it will look into this. We have requested that there should be no displacement of doctors,” he said.

Six government doctors had launched an indefinite fast on the premises of Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on August 23 to draw the government’s attention to four demands. FODGA has been demanding proper implementation of Dynamic Assured Career Progression by reviewing G.O. 354, posting of doctors according to patient load, 50% service quota in postgraduate and super specialty courses and counselling for posting of PGs.

With four of the six doctors hospitalised after their health condition deteriorated, two doctors continued their fast despite poor health on Tuesday evening even as a team of 25 doctors held marathon talks with the government.

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