KARACHI: Trainee doctors start strike today for raise
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Nov 1: The incessant hike in the prices of commodities seems to have made the new medicos also think about their waning purchasing power and press the Sindh government to double what it offers them as stipend for training as house officers in its various hospitals.
Some representatives of the PGS and HOs told Dawn on Thursday that after getting fed up with the relevant authorities’ indifferent attitude and the inordinate delay in the acceptance of their demand for a suitable raise, they had decided to observe a strike from 9am to 3pm daily from Friday.
The monthly stipend for a house officer was last fixed at Rs6,210 in 2001. After completion of MBBS education, graduates are required to serve in a hospital for 10-12 months as a part of their training and many of such officers are accommodated by the public sector teaching hospitals.
A group of officers engaged at the Civil Hospital Karachi said that the existing amount of stipend or salary was already much less than what a lower division clerk or a primary teacher, who normally was not required to do specialisation in his field, was offered.
“We have to discharge our duties in very odd and difficult circumstances. After every alternative day, a call duty (a 36-hours service without any break or rest) is assigned compulsorily,” said one of the new doctors, adding that Sindh government should, at least, emulate the Punjab government which had started giving an enhanced payment to house officers from this year.
Through a recent notification, the Punjab government has increased stipend of house officers and postgraduate trainees at Rs12,000 per month from Rs6,210 and the raise is applicable since January, 2007.
Recently, DHUS announced that it would raise the stipend up to Rs12,000 per month if the officers and trainees submitted an affidavit stating that they would not indulge in any gainful activity at any private hospital or clinic and that they would focus only on their studies and duties at the assigned place of house job or training.
