Bitter pill: Guj to sack striking resident docs

Ahmedabad: Gujarat government has decided to terminate the resident doctors who are on strike for the last four days demanding hike in their stipend.

"We have decided to start terminating the resident doctors from tomorrow morning," Principal Secretary, Health, Ravi Saxena told PTI.

"We held several rounds of talks with the representatives of resident doctors, but they remained adamant so far, forcing us to resort to their termination. We have also written to the parents of the doctors, advising them to counsel their children, who have worked hard and reached to this level," he said and added, “unfortunately they want to spoil their career at this level.”

Fourth year resident doctors will be terminated first followed by senior and newly appointed resident doctors. According to the Principal Secretary, the doctors will be terminated from their respective universities, which means they will never be able to get registered again for any post-graduate course anywhere in the country.

"Once the registration is terminated from the university, under no circumstances it will be revoked," he said.

According to representatives of the doctors, they are demanding stipend at par with other states.

However, the government has said that it is ready to raise the stipend, but no commitment can be given regarding the date of its implementation. "We are prepared to accept the demand seeking hike in the stipend but we cannot commit on the date," Saxena said.

Meanwhile, strike by more than 1,500 resident doctors across the state has affected health services in government-run hospitals.

Meanwhile, former chief minister of Gujarat, Shankarsinh Vaghela on Sunday sought government's interference in the strike. The strike should end soon for better interest of patients, he said.

Talking to mediapersons in Rajkot, he said that state government should take up the issue and discuss with the doctors to solve their problems.

Junior doctors across the state have been on strike since last four days demanding hike in their stipend. The doctors association alleged that resident doctors in Gujarat get stipend less than a class IV employee of government-run hospital.