Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy reviewed various issues regarding the junior doctors’ ongoing agitation with members of the Cabinet sub-committee on Sunday at his camp office. The government, he said, is sympathetic to the agitating junior doctors and has agreed to 11 of their 13 demands. He told the administration to impl-ement the rules strictly to extend better medical services to the poor and needy.

The Chief Minister also said the administration must not be vindictive towards the doctors and must make alternate arrangements for emergency services. He said steps are being taken to develop government hospitals and infrastructure and there is no dearth of funds for this.

Sources say that the remaining two demands of the junior doctors — abolition of rural service and an enhanced stipend — may not be possible. The first is governed by Medical Cou-ncil rules, and as regards the second, the government is already paying higher stipend than neighbouring states. At the Osmania General Hospital, 548 service doctors and specialists are working and in every shift, about 25 junior doctors assist them. Also, as per the directions of district collector Natarajan Gulzar, 32 doctors from rural areas and districts are deployed at Gandhi Hospital to deal with emergency patients.