HC gets Kerala doctors to end stir, for now

The Kerala High Court on Friday got government doctors to suspend their two-month-old work-to-rule stir for a month...

The Kerala High Court on Friday got government doctors to suspend their two-month-old work-to-rule stir for a month, and asked the state government to look into the doctors’ demand for interim pay reforms.

Over the past few weeks, the doctors, belonging to the Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA), have been stepping up their agitation in phases to the point of stopping admissions to the paywards in all government hospitals. The stir had begun threatening to affect the state’s public healthcare delivery mechanism, which is badly strapped for doctors and has over 700 vacancies.

The HC refused to consider the KGMOA posture that it would suspend the stir if the Government revoked the suspension orders on the striking doctors—the Government had suspended several dozen doctors during the current stir—forcing the association to agree to an unconditional withdrawal.

The state had earlier declared that it would consider reinstating the suspended doctors if the stir was first withdrawn.

The current stir was a sequel to a 150-day non-cooperation agitation that the doctors did last year for pay reforms.

The Government Medical Officers’ Association has pointed out that there had been no efforts on the Government’s part to keep its word to allow pay hikes and administrative cadre benefits to the doctors. A seven-member expert committee led by the state health secretary constituted by the Government had also underlined the necessity for rationalising the wages. The Government had announced that its recommendations would be implemented by early October, but nothing had come off it.