Three-and-a-half months after the murder of house surgeon Vandana Das, a committee set up by the Kerala government to study the issues faced by postgraduate doctors and house surgeons in the State is yet to publish its findings.
The Kerala Medical Postgraduates Association (KMPGA) has alleged that the committee has become “non-functional” and the government is yet to take any action on their concerns. The panel is headed by the Health Secretary.
The association functionaries said on Thursday that the committee did not have representatives of postgraduate medical students and house surgeons. A security audit report based on the condition in hospitals, as promised by the Chief Minister, was yet to be released, they said. The KMPGA is planning to hold a token strike on September 29 in medical college hospitals across the State, citing similar issues.
The association leaders pointed out that some crucial issues they had brought before the committee had not been taken up. Adequate hostel facilities according to the guidelines of the National Medical Commission (NMC) were not being provided to postgraduate doctors in State medical colleges. About two-third of the residents of government medical colleges in Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, and Kozhikode had not been provided hostel facilities. These resident doctors were forced to work round the clock in these institutions in violation of NMC guidelines. The association demanded that the resident doctors be given house rent allowance and travel and daily allowance.
The KMPGA leaders said the State medical colleges were lagging behind others in terms of medical research work done by postgraduates. The only entry from Kerala in the National Institute Ranking Framework 2023 in the category had just 14 research points out of 100. The KMPGA leaders claimed that the implementation of weekly off and 60-hours-of-work-a-week duty time for postgraduates were not being taken into account in many departments in medical colleges even after a notification from the Health authorities. The last stipend hike for medical postgraduates and house surgeons dates back to 2019. The government had failed to adhere to the clause that mandated a 4% annual stipend increase until the next State pay revision. They also alleged that the Kerala University of Health Sciences was looting young postgraduate doctors in the name of fees.
