12 medical teachers offer to quit

[sajiv]

Kozhikode: The Kozhikode unit of the Kerala Government Medical College Teachers' Association (KGMCTA) raised the pitch on its opposition to the government's decision to ban private practice with 12 doctors from two departments at the Government Medical College, Kozhikode, offering to submit their resignations.

Association Kozhikode unit president M.P. Sasi said the doctors were willing to give up private practice but were unhappy with the government's decision to unilaterally impose the UGC scale without calling medical college lecturers for discussions. Dr. Sasi was also critical of the promotion policy of the government.

"Publishing four research papers in international journals to qualify for promotion is no joke. With hardly any grants, inadequate research facilities at medical colleges and lack of time after patient care and teaching, how does the government expect us to do quality research and match the standards of international journals?" Dr. Sasi said.

The government was trying to win public support by banning private practice without doing anything substantial to improve the infrastructure in medical colleges, Dr. Sasi said. "For example, the non-appointment of statisticians at the medical college and other colleges forces us to approach external sources for help on our research work," he said.

KGMCTA State president Varghese Thomas said the central executive committee will meet on Wednesday to decide a plan of action. "The UGC pay scale is inadequate. Even Arts and Science College teachers are being paid UGC scale. All we are asking for is a pay commensurate with that being provided at central institutes like AIIMS and Sree Chithira Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences," Dr. Thomas said.

"Our workload according to the new service policy of the government will involve more hours in patient care, teaching and research. Giving us the same salary as other college teachers is ridiculous," Dr. Thomas added.

Another prickly issue that came up before the meeting of the Kozhikode unit of KGMCTA is low Patient Care Allowance (PCA) of Rs.3,000 a month.

Dr. Thomas said that paying doctors Rs.100 a day as PCA was unacceptable.