Doctors' Bodies Demand Filling Vacancies, and Better Pay Under G.O. 354

Representatives of the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association (TNGDA) and the Federation of Government Doctors Association had two separate meetings with Health Secretary P. Senthil Kumar and directors of the Health Department on Friday.

The meeting was arranged to discuss the issues faced by the medical professionals in the state, where the doctors' unions put forward several demands to ensure the betterment of the health professionals in the society.

The major demands discussed by the TNGDA involved issues like vacant doctor posts, promotion and transfer counselling of associate professors and professors, and voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for doctors.

Though TNGDA had agreed with the appointment of specialists for 658 posts through walk-in interviews, they demanded that doctors be regularized only through Medical Services Recruitment Board (MRB) examination.

Furthermore, the low pay scale of the doctors is a pressing issue that the doctors' unions demanded to addressed. Since the G.O. 354 is yet to be implemented, Tamil Nadu health professionals are getting paid a lot lesser compared to other states.

Federation of Government Doctors Association (FOGDA) demanded immediate implementation of G.0. 354 which ensures better pay and promotions to the doctors. G.O. 354 was introduced by the late CM Karunanidhi in 2009, for the welfare of government medics and is yet to be made true. This order mandates that the salaries of State government doctors must be aligned with that of Central government doctors.^[1] The demands included the sanction of Rs. 3,000 as an allowance for all the medics with proper qualifications, who did not benefit from G.O. 293, which addressed the grant of allowances to such doctors.

A week prior, the Government All Doctors Association (GADA) had refuted the claims made by DME that 'G.O. 354 is not being implemented due to the conflicts between doctors' bodies.'

BJP Tamil Nadu president K. Annamalai had criticised the current Tamil Nadu Ministry on Friday (February 14, 2025), for failing to take necessary steps to fill vacancies of doctors in government medical college hospitals. The death of a four-year-old boy from Tenkasi who was reportedly administered an injection by the hospital staff in the absence of a doctor at Tirunelveli Government Medical College and Hospital forced BJP TN President to make such a comment on the current Health Ministry.

References

1. Government of Tamil Nadu. Government Order No. 301: Health and Family Welfare Department. August 31, 2015. Accessed February 12, 2025. https://cms.tn.gov.in/cms_migrated/document/GO/hfw_e_301_2015.pdf.

(Input from various sources)

(Rehash/Jithin Paul/MSM)