Health Minister hopeful of resolving issues raised by docs, health staff

Bengaluru: Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Tuesday expressed hope to find a solution to the issues raised by KGMOA and other health department employees’ associations as they have called for a statewide strike.

As part of the phased statewide agitation by Karnataka Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA), all Outpatient Department (OPD) services will be affected from March 11.

From March 16, doctors plan a complete boycott of duties, including emergency services, if the government fails to act. “We have discussed with doctors and healthcare workers. We have spoken to them twice. Yesterday, we communicated the government’s actions to them through our commissioner,” Rao said in the Legislative Assembly. He said, “Their demands include issues pending for several years, such as Cadre and Recruitment Rules, the seniority list, and discrepancies in the last counselling, among others.” “We plan to resolve them. There are several other issues, I don’t want to discuss now. We have called them for a meeting with the chief minister today.