Opposition to the decision of monthly subsistence allowance of Rs 25,000 to Rs 35,000 for resident doctors, demand that the subsistence allowance should be similar to that of the government
Residents, medical officers and intern doctors have boycotted non-emergency services in medical colleges and institutes across the country since Wednesday. They have also performed in hospitals and health institutions across the country.
They have been boycotting OPD services for 3 hours every day against the decision of the Minister of Health and Education. Kathmandu valley doctors staged a sit-in at Maitighar, boycotting services. The safe workplace struggle committee for health workers has put forward a demand that the decision made by Health Minister Pradeep Paudel and Education Minister Vidya Bhattarai should be canceled last week and that the wages of interns and resident doctors should be maintained at the same level as the government minimum. The committee has also demanded that the provision of service after completion of post-graduate level (PG) of medical education should be removed and their duty and leave time should be fixed.
The minister, who is also the vice-chairman of the Medical Education Commission, had decided to provide a monthly subsistence allowance of 25,000 to 35,000 rupees to resident doctors studying in private medical colleges. It was decided to provide free study of MD, MS and other subjects in private medical colleges on the condition of working for two years. Resident doctors have said that the decision is not valid. They say that the decision is an insult to doctors.
Ministry of Health spokesperson Dr. Prakash Budhathoki said that it is unfair to protest by stopping essential services. "The service has not been completely stopped as only some residents have boycotted the service. We are understanding with the hospitals," he said. He said that the Ministry of Health is taking initiatives to resolve this through negotiations and the Prime Minister, Minister of Education and Minister of Health are also showing interest. We also agree with the demand of resident doctors. A middle way was found and a decision was made regarding the allowance. On the other hand, private medical colleges are also dissatisfied, said Dr. Budhathoki said.
There is a demand for resident doctors in the government medical college to get 8th tehsarah subsistence allowance (48 thousand per month) and to set the duration of duty. Ministers Paudel and Bhattarai had decided to make a legal arrangement to give subsistence allowance of 25,000 in the first year, 30,000 in the second year and 35,000 in the third year. But due to the said decision, resident doctors complain of labor exploitation. They also demand that the duty period should be fixed as the medical colleges have been making the resident doctors work more hours than prescribed by the Labor Act.
Sangharsh Committee's demand paper states that there should be a maximum of 80 hours of duty per week, a maximum of 24 hours of duty per week, leave after each duty, maternity leave, 21 days of general leave and 7 days of study leave per year. It has also been demanded to arrange weekly leave. Resident doctors will not return to work until the demand is met, coordinator of the Sangharsh Committee. Sesharaj Ghimire said. The government did not listen when they did not work in the OPD for 3 hours a day as a symbol. Even so far, there has been no positive response," he said. "We were forced to start a protest by stopping the service." The
committee had protested two years ago and demanded to be given allowances like the government. At that time, there was an agreement between the Sangharsh Committee and the Ministry of Health to provide subsistence allowance as per the demand. The Ministry sent the Medical Education Commission to implement the agreement. After the Commission decided to proceed with the process of allocating seats in private medical colleges only after giving the prescribed subsistence allowance, the directors objected. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli directed the ministers to resolve the dissatisfaction of the medical college administrators.
