Junior doctors call off stir

Junior doctors in Telangana Saturday called off their four day stir over their demand for recruitment of assistant professors, following an assurance from the government that would be looked into.

The Telangana Junior Doctors Association announced its decision after talks with state health minister E Rajender.

The minister assured the doctors that recruitment would be taken up through medical recruitment board in a time-bound manner, Association's chairman P S Vijayender said.

The other demands include abolition of recruitment of doctors on contract basis and appointment of a committee, also comprising its members, to study the government's move to increase the retirement age of teaching faculty in government medical colleges from 58 to 65.

The government assured the association that notification of contract published for Nalgonda and Suryapet medical colleges would be withdrawn after assessing feasibility of recognition by Medical Council of India, Vijayender said.

It also assured that rules concerning age hike for all adminstrative post would be framed by holding consultations, including with the Association, he said.

The junior doctors in the city held a one-day hunger strike Friday in support of their demands and had been boycotting elective services since the last three days.

The association submitted a memorandum to Governor E S L Narasimhan at the Raj Bhavan on Thursday, urging him not to promulgate an ordinance on increasing the retirement age.

The association has contended that increasing the retirement age would "cause huge loss to young doctors as there will be no recruitment for the next 10 years".