'Lot depends on them': Junior doctors demand better pay as they fight Covid

Young doctors and medical staff have had to protest during pandemic for even basic rights: salaries, protection from assaults by patients' families, better staffing, poor quality hospital equipments

With the discovery of the Delta plus variant and the threat of a third Covid-19 wave looming, junior doctors in government medical colleges, forced into the forefront of India's battle against the pandemic, are worried that they will have to return to an exhausting, stressful, unhealthy and insecure work environment, IndiaSpend learnt through extensive interviews.

If they have to be put on Covid-19 duty again, the junior doctors said they would like to be paid better and on-time salaries, allowed time to pursue their specialisation, and provided necessary medical infrastructure and mental health support at work. Junior doctors [JD], also