Facing pay-cut, 860 junior doctors on COVID duty resign in Kerala

At a time when the country is witnessing rapid growth in cases of COVID-19, as many as 860 junior doctors have resigned in Kerala after being subjected to cuts and non-payment of their salaries.

The junior doctors were assigned for special COVID-19 duty on a temporary appointment of three months. They have not been paid salaries since their appointment (three months), besides their wages being slashed by a huge margin.

“I am told their salary is kept pending because of some software updation issues,” Dr. Joseph Chacko, state president of Kerala Government Medical Officers Association, told The Federal.

“It is quite unfair they are not excluded from salary cuts. ₹42,000 is the promised salary but they get only ₹27,000 after cuts including tax and the contribution towards CMDRF,” he said.

Dr. Chacko said the government should look into this and take a decision as early as possible.

The tenure of the junior doctors ends on September 30.

The mass resignation comes at a time when the health situation in Kerala is “not good”.

“The situation is not good. There is a slip in the number of people getting infected with the virus in the last two days,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday (September 3).

Vijayan said this is due to lesser number of tests being carried out during the Onam holidays.

Kerala has recorded 79,624 positive cases of COVID-19 and 315 deaths since it reported the first few cases of the country earlier in the year. The number of active cases in the state is 21,516.

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