The Telangana government on Tuesday, while initiating the process of expelling protesting junior doctors on disciplinary grounds, has issued an ultimatum to invoke Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) on striking medicos. In a firm step, the government has implemented the provisions of GO 1022, which essentially seeks to punish junior doctors.
Medicos actively participating in the agitation will be debarred from the course for six months on disciplinary grounds.
Stipend to the medicos during the period of the strike has been annulled and no attendance will be given during the strike period. Transferred internees from private medical colleges, who are also a part of the medical strike, will be sent back to their original institutions for internship and they would not be allowed to write PG entrance examination next year.
“We have also gone ahead and informed the parents of all junior doctors about our decisions. Except for one on mandatory rural service, we have accepted all other demands of medicos. Mandatory rural service is a policy decision of the government. We appeal to medicos to join their duties quickly. We will invoke ESMA if they don’t,” said Director of Medical Education (DME), Telangana, Putta Srinivas.
The 591 PG medicos, who recently attended counselling for mandatory government service posting, have so far not reported to duties at teaching hospitals. “Because of three month delay in counselling, we had allowed PG doctors to attend duties for just nine moths. However, now they have to attend to duties for 12 months,” the DME made it clear.
The government has also banned holding protests of any kind within the campus of teaching hospitals. “We have also informed about this decision to N.T.R. University of Health Sciences, who will execute the decisions. The government is very firm on its decision,” DME said.
Meanwhile, protests and boycott of duties by junior doctors continued in all the teaching hospitals in the State. The medicos are also holding relay hunger strikes at Osmania Medical College campus.