TN: 50% reservation in PG courses, pay at par with central govt Doctors demanded

Coimbatore: A demonstration demanding 50% reservation in postgraduate studies and pay scale at par with the doctors in the central government service was staged at the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) by government doctors recently.

The District President of the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors, N Ravi Kumar said 50% reservation was not a privilege. “Working in any primary health center in the state is difficult as there would be more work. The Medical Council of India says even a place like Chinna Kallipatti was not a rural area, as it had bus service. But, doctors there deal with a lot of communicable diseases, which is not taken into account,” he informed TOI.

According to the District President, no reservation for government doctors in PG studies would result in no one being available for working in specialty departments like paediatrics and gynaecology.

On the issue of asking for salary at par with central government employees, Kumar said that doctors in Tamil Nadu were far more hardworking than their counterparts in the central government, however, their salaries were less.

“Central government doctors just treat inpatients. But we, in addition to treating patients, also have to implement government’s health schemes. There are at least 20 such schemes we have to work on. But, we get paid less. We are not asking for more pay, just pay equal to that of the central government doctors,” he added to the TOI