Kochi: A section of government medical college doctors in Kerala on Friday staged a relay hunger strike demanding the state government to rectify anomalies in the pay revision of the college lecturers.
Led by the Kerala Government Medical College Teachers Association (KGMCTA) and the Kerala Government Postgraduate Medical Teachers Association (KGPMTA), the doctors staged the one-day relay hunger strike.
"Medical college teachers are fighting for their professions dignity. The doctors have been in the forefront of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. As responsible healthcare professionals, we are staging the protest without causing inconvenience to the public. Our demand is to provide arrears from January 1, 2016," president of the Ernakulam unit of the KGMCTA Dr Unmesh told reporters.
KGMCTA called for the strike alleging that the government had not given any assurance on providing arrears while implementing pay revision.
The pay revision, which was due in 2016, was done only in 2020 and the government had assured that the wage revision would have a retrospective effect from January 1, 2016. But, it had not given any commitment on arrears, KGMCTA said in a press release.
The anomalies were in the pay structure of entry cadre doctors, resulting in a shortfall of around Rs 15,000 for those who joined service after 2016, it said.
(With inputs from PTI)
