Government doctors in Kerala to intensify stir

Defying government's request to call of the 11-day-old non-cooperation protest, Kerala Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA) on Thursday said doctors across the state would intensify the stir if their charter of demands, including a pay revision, was not met soon.

"There is no question of going back on our protest. It is upto the government to redress our grievances and solve the crisis," KGMOA district president M Muralidharan told reporters here.

Stating that the doctors should not be blamed if their agitation created hardship to economically backward people who were solely dependent on the health service, he said the onus fell on the government for forcing them to go on protest.

The striking doctors would observe a fast on November 1 in Thiruvananthapuram and the future course of action would be chalked out at KGMOA'S state council meet on November 4, he said.

Muralidharan said the association was, however, confident that the government would not continue to turn a blind eye to the issue.

Stating that the government was showing "undue delay" in meeting their demands, he said, "for more than an year now, the government has been making assurances but not fulfilling them thereby forcing us to take on the agitation path."

Assuring to look into their demands, Health Minister P K Sreemathi had earlier urged the doctors to withdraw their agitation. After the doctors began their non-cooperation stir, the government had threatened of appropriate action against those not attending field work, Sabarimala and VIP duties.