Demanding hike in their stipend, Junior doctors in all the government medical colleges of the state, including Gandhi Medical College, went on a two-hour symbolic strike on Wednesday.

In addition to the protest the Junior Doctors Association of Gandhi Medical College gave a memorandum to the college dean Dr. Salil Bhargava.

In this, it has been stated that if the order for increase in stipend is not issued till late Wednesday evening, the nature of the strike will be changed on Thursday.

Junior doctors of the Medical College at Hamidia and Sultania Hospital affiliated to Gandhi Medical College went on strike in the routine OPD from 10 am to 12 noon on Wednesday. This has been confirmed by the state president of the association, Sanket Seete.

He said that junior doctors posted on emergency duty were not included in the two-hour symbolic strike on Wednesday. So that any patient who comes to the hospital with the hope of emergency treatment does not have to return from the hospital without treatment.

There has been no increase in the stipend of medical students (junior doctors) doing PG from government medical colleges from November 2022. Whereas in June 2021, the state government has made a provision to increase the stipend of junior doctors annually on the basis of Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Members of the Junior Doctors Association (GMC) said that the state government had increased the stipend of junior doctors on June 7, 2021. Besides, there was also a provision for annual increase in the month of April every year according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of that year. But, the increase took place in November 2022 instead of April 2022. After November 2022, there was no increase in April 2023 and the work is still stuck.

JUDA President Sanket Seete said that our demands have been put before the administration for a long time. But, since there was no solution, we worked wearing black bands. Representatives of JUDA Bhopal met the administrative officials. He has assured us of taking positive steps regarding our demands. We have full faith in the administration and we hope that the government will take some positive action soon.

According to junior doctors, we are continuously discussing with the concerned people. Only assurances are being given everywhere, if our demands are not met soon then junior doctors across the state may go on strike. Junior doctor's spokesperson Dr. Kuldeep Gupta said that Juda had met the minister's OSD regarding her demands and received assurance from there.

The number of junior doctors across the state is more than 2500. The number of junior doctors in Bhopal is more than 600.

The stipend in June 2021 was Rs 65000.Stipend in November 2022 will be Rs 69115. The stipend has not been increased since then.

The demands are that the monthly stipend of Madhya Pradesh election doctor should be Rs 1 lakh per month. The pending work of annual salary increase should be completed. In Madhya Pradesh, fees for medical education should be increased from Rs 10 to Rs 15,000 like other states and university fees should also be reduced.

All junior doctors working in Madhya Pradesh should be provided health insurance for 5 years. The seats of senior residents should be increased in the clinical department in the medical college. Seats for senior residents should also be introduced in non-clinical departments.

Rural Service Bond should be abolished from Madhya Pradesh or if a doctor goes on rural service then he should be given an additional salary of Rs 20,000, because the period of bond is not included in Senior Resident ship and then students have to do SRship separately to become Assistant Professor.