The Legal Coordination Committee for Government Doctors has appealed to the Tamil Nadu government to announce measures to fulfil their long-pending demand for better pay during the upcoming budget discussion for Health and Family Welfare Department in the Assembly.

In a statement , the committee threatened to begin an indefinite hunger strike in Salem from mid-May if the government failed to meet their demands.

According to the statement, the committee was not even demanding pay on a par with doctors working for the Union government or certain other States, but only to upgrade the pay of doctors with MBBS to band 4 once they completed 12 years of service as per the order issued by the earlier DMK government. At present, the pay band is revised to 4 only after 20 years of service.

S. Perumal Pillai, president of the committee, said Karnataka government increased the salary of its doctors on a par with those doctors with the Union government during the first wave of COVID-19. He said it was unfortunate that the present government had not fulfilled the demand even though Chief Minister M.K. Stalin supported the struggle of government doctors when he was the Leader of the Opposition.

The statement alleged that doctors in government services in Tamil Nadu with super specialty qualifications were not getting promotions as per the norms of National Medical Council. As per NMC norms doctors should be promoted as Associate Professors after two years of practice following the completion of their super speciality course. But many doctors in Tamil Nadu were continuing as Assistant Professors even 10 years after completing super speciality course.

Tamil Nadu had one of the best healthcare infrastructure in the country. Compared to other States, the number of doctors working in rural areas in the State was more, the statement said and appealed to the government to fulfil the legitimate demands of such dedicated doctors.