Doctors marching in a protest rally
Doctors marching in a protest rally

Resident docs of Mysore Medical College stage protest, demand salary payments

The doctors, who had staged a protest within their hospital premises, said that they were organising the march to the Mysuru District Commissioner’s office as the peaceful agitation bore no fruits.

Resident doctors of the Mysore Medical College and Research Institute on Friday, November 12, staged a protest march to the Mysuru District Commissioner’s office demanding the payment of pending salaries and allowances that they say have been pending for almost 15 months. The doctors, who had staged a protest within their hospital premises, said that they were organising the march as the peaceful agitation bore no fruits. 

In their letter to the District Commissioner, the Resident Doctors’ Association at the Mysuru hospital have demanded that payments of COVID-19 allowances should be completed and stipends that remain due till date should be paid in full. Senior residents, who have not been paid salaries for the past two months, should be paid on par with SR-grade for the 2021 batch. They have also demanded that second-year PG students be paid the stipend of Rs 5,000, due for the month of July.

“We, the PG students, have performed COVID-19 duties for nearly 15 months during the last two calendar years, compromising academic activities against the risk of infection under adverse conditions. Nearly half the learning period of post-graduation has gone without any substantial learning of PG skills,” the doctors say.

They have added that senior resident doctors, postgraduate students and interns have carried out COVID-19 duties without getting due payments as per upgraded salaries.

The postgraduate doctors, they say, have been assured a COVID-19 allowance of Rs 10,000 per month, and since July,  only Rs 30,000 has been paid. “To our surprise, instead of giving the balance credit of Rs 30,000, an attempt is being made to recover the already paid allowance. An amount of Rs 15,000 has already been deducted. This is considered an extreme disrespect to our dedicated services. It is requested that this is not to be done,” the association said in the letter.

Similarly, they say that senior resident doctors have not been paid the salary since the month of May. The COVID allowance of Rs 10,000 per month, as promised, has not been paid, and like PG students, the allowance previously paid has been deducted instead. “Two months of salary due for the SRs has to be provided,” the letter adds. 

The second-year students, who began the course in July 2020, were eligible for Rs 50,000 per month as per the assigned salaries. However, they have only been paid a stipend of Rs 45,000 in the month of July 2021. They should be paid the assigned stipend in full, the association has said.

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