Approximately 250 doctors affiliated with the Telangana Teaching Government Doctors Association (TTGDA) staged a ‘Chalo Hyderabad’ protest on Wednesday outside the office of the Director of Medical Education (DME) in Hyderabad.
Serving an ultimatum, TTGDA members announced that if their demands are not met within the next seven days, teaching doctors from all 26 government medical colleges will initiate a state-wide strike indefinitely.
The doctors have voiced a range of long-standing demands that have gone unaddressed for years. One pressing issue is the outstanding Pay Revision Commission (PRC) arrears owed to doctors, spanning from January 2016 to August 2020. Dr. Kiran Madala, TTGDA VP, reported that the finance ministry has already cleared the bills, but the matter remains unresolved in the Chief Minister’s Office.
Moreover, they demand the pax fixation for doctors who transitioned from Telangana Vaidya Vidhana Parishad (TVVP) and Directorate of Health (DH) to the Directorate of Medical Education (DME), effectively moving from non-teaching to teaching roles. “Even though the absorption of doctors has been an ongoing process in the state, the government is yet to establish a systematic arrangement for them.”, said Dr. Jalagam Tirupathi Rao, Secretary General of TTGDA. Other demands included the government to proceed with general transfers and career advancement scheme, both of which are pending for five years.
Notably, the Telangana government instituted a ban on private practice for government doctors in June 2022. To encourage compliance with this rule, TTGDA President Dr. Anwar Miya emphasised that doctors should receive Non-Practice Allowance (NPA), a practice followed by several other states.
