Govt doctors warn of strike across Karnataka, set 21-day deadline

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Medical Officers’ Association has vowed to go on strike if the Health and Family Welfare Department fails to fulfill its demands within 21 days. 

In a letter, the association urged the department to set right certain administrative procedures, including those related to appointment, which the officers have been requesting for over four years and the list of seniority of officers. 

According to the rules laid down by the government, the seniority list of officers and doctors working in the department must be prepared every December.

However, the association claims that such a list has not been prepared for over 13 years despite multiple requests to the officials concerned. 

The failure to prepare the list has denied promotions to senior officers while some have retired without promotions. 

The association also expressed disappointment with new orders, including those related to the cancellation of funding higher education to doctors enrolled in the department, removal of doctors related to obstetrics and gynaecology from Community Health Centres, and objection to doctors performing private in-patient duties. 

According to the association, while doctors enrolled in ESI and the Medical Education Department are being given an opportunity to take up higher studies with complete funding, the same facility has been cancelled from this year for health department doctors, leading to disappointment. 

To reduce the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), the government decided to replace doctors from smaller hospitals where there were fewer deliveries. The association said that this would put pregnant women from rural areas in distress, which would in fact increase the MMR. 

The association also complained about an absence of uninterrupted medicine supplies from the government and noted that despite requests, the issue has not been addressed, leading to the suffering of patients.