PG doctors at Kollam's Parippally Medical College go on strike over unpaid stipends

Parippally: Postgraduate medical students at the Government Medical College Hospital staged a token strike on Tuesday to protest the prolonged delay in the disbursement of their stipends. The resident doctors withdrew from routine clinical duties, bringing operations in outpatient (OP) clinics, inpatient (IP) wards, diagnostic laboratories, and the mortuary to a temporary halt.

As part of the two-hour agitation held between 10 am and 12 noon, the medicos took out a protest march across the hospital campus before staging a sit-in outside the Principal’s office.

The strike saw participation from junior residents across several key departments, including General Medicine, General Surgery, Gynaecology, ENT, Orthopaedics, Ophthalmology, Paediatrics, Microbiology, and Forensic Medicine, triggering brief disruptions in daily hospital services.

However, critical care units, including the Casualty and Intensive Care Units (ICUs), were exempted from the strike to ensure emergency patient care remained unaffected.

A total of 58 postgraduate doctors from the first, second, and third years have been affected by the hold-up. While their monthly stipends are typically credited before the 10th of every month, the students were forced to take to the streets after the authorities failed to release their dues for September.

The demonstration was spearheaded by College Union PG representative Dr. Safna Safeer, alongside Dr. Nidhina and Dr. U. Arjun.