Vijayawada: Hundreds of medical students are upset as they are not getting stipend/wages for the last four months even as they are actively engaged in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic in Andhra Pradesh for the past over a year.
State health authorities recruited medical officers on contract basis for six months from April, 2021 when the Covid caseload started to rise during the second wave. They were assured of monthly wages of nearly Rs 53,800. The medical officers have not been paid this amount so far.
They say those who recruited in the recent past were being paid wages of nearly Rs 70,000 per month, and this is also causing heartburns to them. In Vijayawada government general hospital alone, nearly 110 medical officers are at work.
Dr Suvijay Royal, working with the health department on contract basis for six months said, “We are not paid wages since our inception in the service on contract basis since April, 2021. We request the government to pay us promptly.”
Similar is the case with house surgeons who were promised a monthly stipend of Rs 19,000. They too got no money since May, this year.
They are attending to both Covid and non-Covid cases. “We are given N95 mask while attending to Covid patients and surgical mask for non-Covid cases. We are seeking support from donors to arrange N95 masks so as to avoid a health risk to us.” They say some house surgeons are facing difficulty to meet their daily expenses and seeking money from their homes or are borrowing from friends.
House surgeon Divakar said, “We appeal to the government to pay our stipend regularly and clear the pending dues.”
Another house surgeon, Dharmateja said, “Some medical colleges who submitted attendance reports of students and bills got the stipend released while others failed to get it. We want the authorities to initiate steps for prompt payment of stipend.”
The medical students alleged that during the first wave of the pandemic, their wages were released in two spells, in six months’ contract period.
Health workers like nursing orderlies etc are also facing hardships due to the delay in release of wages across the state. Director of medical education Raghavendra Rao said, “We have some budget issues and let the medical students approach us. We shall resolve their issues.”
