Resident doctors at Chandigarh’s GMCH-32 to go on strike from today

The doctors have already been holding silent protests for the last several days to push for implementation of central pay scales

Demanding implementation of central pay scales, resident doctors at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, have decided to go on strike from Tuesday.

The hospital administration has assured that arrangements had been made to avoid inconvenience to patients. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

As per the doctors, OPD services will be halted on Day 1. GMCH’s Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) president Dr Simran Kaur Sethi said they will intensify their protest if their demand was not addressed.

The doctors have already been holding silent protests for the last several days to push for implementation of central pay scales. They said while central pay scales were implemented in Chandigarh 16 months ago, they were still not getting the benefits.

They said the UT health secretary had assured them of looking into their demand, but it had still not been fulfilled.

Meanwhile, the hospital administration assured that arrangements had been made to avoid inconvenience to patients.

In a statement, the hospital said RDA had been intimated by the UT health secretary and hospital’s director-principal that the issue had been taken up with competent authorities and it will take some time to be resolved.

Director-principal Dr Jasbinder Kaur advised the resident doctors not to proceed on strike. Health secretary Ajay Chagti also advised them to be patient and not take any drastic steps like strike that will put the public to inconvenience. He assured that the matter was being looked into on priority by the Chandigarh administration.