K’taka: Demanding Covid risk allowance doctors on indefinite protest

Bengaluru: Demanding immediate release of Covid risk allowances and fulfillment of other demands, resident doctors and interns boycotted all services at Out Patient Department (OPD) and other services in all government medical colleges across the state on Monday, November 29.

The Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors (KARD) had called for a protest urging the government for the immediate release of Covid risk allowance and timely payment of stipend for postgraduate and interns. The association has also demanded a restructuring of the academic fee.

The association has alleged that the Karnataka government has not released Covid risk allowance even six months after giving assurance, due to which they are resorting to indefinite strike.

Medicos and health workers have waged a war for over a year against the Covid pandemic by pledging their lives. The government had announced Rs 10,000 allowance every month from April 2021 for all resident doctors but has not released the fund yet, which amounts to showing negligence towards the service of frontline workers, the release by Association read.

The academic fee has been hiked from Rs 30,000 to Rs 1,20,000, a forty per cent increase. During the pandemic, medical students have been asked to pay full amount without any concession. Opposing this, the resident doctors of various districts staged a protest on November 9. The protest was taken back after the Health minister assured that, the demands would be fulfilled within 10 days.