Doctors of government medical college and hospitals protest hike in retirement age

Hyderabad: Assistant and associate professors in government medical college and hospitals staged a protest demanding cancellation of the proposed increase in the retirement age of professors from 58 years to 65 years. It would hurt their promotions aspects, they said.

They said the government could appoint retired professors on contract for four years till the recruitment and promotion processes are completed. Increasing the retirement age was not acceptable, he said.

The proposal to increase retirement age has been cleared by a government committee on the ground that there are few professors and there is a demand for more experienced staff with more medical seats being sanctioned in the state.

The government order has not been issued, but the committee’s clearance has angered assistant and associate professors.

Assistant professor Dr D. Ramesh said, “Which committee has cleared the proposal and on what basis? We have been continuously protesting at Gandhi Hospital but no one has entertained our representation. We are forced to give the letters of protest to the secretaries and we were not given a hearing.”

He said the order would not allow young doctors to practice in the government sector. “Whatever chances we had for promotion are going to be scuttled. We have been waiting for promotions for four years, and now we are being given an order of increase in retirement age which is not fair,” Dr Ramesh said.

A group of eight doctors met Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan on Wednesday afternoon and registered their strong protest against increase in the retirement age. In the morning as there was no appointment from the Governor, a rally of 100 doctors was planned. It was cancelled after the Governor heard them out.

Doctors said they would continue to protest at Gandhi Hospital and have threatened to go on an indefinite hunger strike if the government issues an order to increase the retirement age of professors