Latest news with #GO354
The Hindu
7 days ago
- Health
- The Hindu
T.N. government doctors seek pay parity, job for deceased doctor's widow
The Legal Coordination Committee for Government Doctors (LCC) has appealed to Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to announce, on Independence Day, the implementation of Government Order (GO) 354 issued during the tenure of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and to provide a government appointment to Divya, widow of Vivekanandan, a government doctor who died while serving during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement, S. Perumal Pillai, LCC president, said Tamil Nadu has been a model in the health sector, reducing Infant Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), with the latter falling from 45 last year to 39 this year. The State has also received the national award for organ transplantation for the eighth consecutive year. However, government doctors continue to receive among the lowest salaries in the country. Recalling that Mr. Stalin, as Leader of the Opposition in 2019, had expressed solidarity with protesting doctors and assured that their demands would be met when the DMK came to power, Dr. Perumal Pillai said the assurances remain unfulfilled even after four years. Around 19,000 government doctors are awaiting resolution of the pay issue, he added. He noted that despite several demonstrations, including a march from Salem Mettur to Chennai, to draw attention to their demands, the government has not acted. Tamil Nadu, he said, is the only State where government doctors have had to resort to such measures for service-related issues and even then, participants were detained. The LCC pointed out that government doctors had been a key support to the State during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic and expressed concern that Dr. Vivekanandan's family has not received the requested appointment despite repeated appeals. The committee urged that to strengthen the health sector, adequate posts for doctors and nurses be sanctioned and GO 354 be implemented. As Karunanidhi had secured the right for Chief Ministers to hoist the national flag on Independence Day, the LCC requested that the announcement be made on August 15 as a tribute to him, alongside the appointment for Ms. Divya.
The Hindu
22-04-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Govt. doctors' federation disappointed as health budget does not address their demands
The Federation of Government Doctors Associations (FOGDA) has registered its disappointment as the health budget did not address the demands of government doctors particularly their long-pending demand to review Government Order 354 relating to pay band compression. On Tuesday, a day after the debate on Demand for Grants for the Health department, P. Balakrishnan, convenor of FOGDA and president of Democratic Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association, said that government doctors in the State have been waiting since 2017 for their long pending demand to be addressed. 'Review of GO 354 issued in 2009 is pending since 2017. When we protested in 2019, the present Chief Minister had then assured us of his support. We have been hoping that our demand will be fulfilled in the last four years and looked forward to an announcement in this year's health budget but we are deeply disappointed. The State government is constructing hospital buildings but is not considering the demands of the manpower. It needs to spend around ₹200 crore a year to fulfil our demand,' he said. FOGDA also urged the State government to redistribute nearly 1,600 financially sanctioned posts in GO 354, which were reduced in a restructuring exercise, to the old medical college hospitals as per the patient load. This included 500 posts of professors, 450 posts of associate professors and nearly 600 posts of assistant professors/senior residents/tutors. Dr. Balakrishnan added that as per GO 293 (relating to payment of allowances for doctors), an allowance of ₹3,000 for Primary Health Centre medical officers with MBBS qualification have not been given till date. Similarly, nearly 75% of specialists were not receiving the speciality allowance under the same GO. 'We are requesting the intervention of the Chief Minister to look into our demands. We have made several representations to the Health Minister and Health Secretary. We are conducting our executive committee meeting on April 27 to discuss the next course of action,' he said. Representatives of Service Doctors and Post Graduates Association, Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association and Government All Doctors Association were present.
