Doctors call off strike in HP

Shimla, Mar 30 (UNI) The resident doctors of the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) here in Himachal Pradesh today called off their eight-day strike after the government agreed to hike their stipend.

The decision to call off the strike was taken after the talks between the state government representative and a six-member team of the striking doctors, Resident Doctors Association (RDA) President Rajesh Sood told UNI here.

He said following the government's decision to increase their stipend to Rs 12,000, Rs 13,000 and Rs 14,000 for first, second and third year students respectively, the doctors have resumed their duties.

The doctors were being given a stipend of Rs 6,000, 8,000 and 9,200 before they went on a pen down strike from March 22, crippling health services in the state's premier hospital.

The striking doctors had resigned en masse yesterday following the state government's decision to issue showcause notice to them on Wednesday.

Mr Sood said the stipend of the interns has also been increased to Rs 5,000 from Rs 3,200 and Rs 8,000 from Rs 6,300 for House Surgeons. Besides, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has also assured the doctors to look into their other long pending demands, he said.

The Himachal Medical Officers Association (HMOA) has hailed the state government's decision to accede to the demands of the doctors, saying it was a ''right step in the right direction''.

''We are hopeful that the state government will soon issue a notification on the PG allowance to the specialist doctors too as assured by the Chief Minister some time ago, association's general secretary Jeewanand Chauhan said.

He said they had full faith in the Chief Minister, who has a positive attitude towards the demands of the doctors.

The association also called upon the Chief Minister to withdraw the mandatory condition of 30 years service for pensionary benefits and age bar on general dental officers (GDOs) for their higher education.

UNI