Doctors at government medical college hospitals in Kerala are intensifying their agitation by staying away from all outpatient clinics on Monday.
The Kerala Government Medical College Teachers’ Association (KGMCTA) said on Friday that they were forced to adopt a mode of protest which put the public to difficulties as the government had been quite dismissive about their long-standing demands and silent protests.
As the faculty would be boycotting work, only junior doctors and PG medicos would be available for work at medical colleges hospitals (MCHs) on Monday. Hence except in the case of emergencies, the public should not visit the MCHs on the day, the KGMCTA appealed to the public.
Some of the demands raised by the KGMCTA are very long-standing.
Demands
Pay revision for medical college doctors is implemented once in 10 years and in Kerala, the doctors’ pay revision which was due in 2016, was implemented only in 2020. Doctors have been demanding the payment of salary and dearness allowance arrears for the past four years or more.
Other demands include the resolution of anomalies in the entry cadre and that doctors be appointed in proportion to the patient load.
The KGMCTA had been demanding that the government create adequate new posts of doctors, instead of redeploying doctors from existing medical colleges to the newly opened ones. This might fool the National Medical Commission into giving recognition to the new medical colleges but would not solve the problem of acute shortage of doctors, the KGMCTA said.
While medical colleges had been finding it hard to fulfil the day-to-day requirement of medical care for people because of the acute shortage of doctors, the government was moving existing doctors out to the new medical colleges which lacked even basic infrastructure, in the name of work arrangement. This had been derailing the functioning of the medical colleges. The government did not seem to understand that the KGMCTA’s strike was also against this policy of the government which was denying high-end and quality care to poor patients, the association said. This strike by doctors was forced upon the people by the government, the KGMCTA said.
The KGMCTA intended to continue the boycott of OP clinics on a relay basis on October 28 (Tuesday), November 5 (Wednesday), November 13 (Thursday), November 21 (Friday), and November 29 (Saturday). Classes for medical students would also remain suspended on these days, it said.
Published – October 17, 2025 08:09 pm IST