Resident doctors and house surgeons serving at the PGIMS here went on an indefinite strike on Wednesday evening over pay anomalies.
PGIMS Resident Doctors Association (RDA) president Dr Jangveer Grewal and vice president Dr Gaurav Nandal said the resident doctors had been denied the benefit of the Seventh Pay Commission for the past two years.
“When our salaries were finally fixed in accordance with the Seventh Pay Commission, we started getting salaries lesser than what we used to get under the Sixth Pay Commission. We took the matter to the authorities, but to no avail. Hence, we have been forced to go on strike,” they maintained.
Health care services at OPDs, indoor wards, operation theatres, labour rooms, ICUs, casualty wing, ICUs and Trauma Centre will be affected.
Terming the strike as “illegal, planned and motivated”, University of Health Sciences Vice Chancellor Prof OP Kalra has advised the doctors to join duty, failing which strict disciplinary action would be initiated against them.
“We had heard the grievances of the resident doctors and promptly conveyed their concerns to the state authorities. Still, they went on a strike, and that, too, without any prior intimation. This will be taken seriously,” he said, adding that patient care would not be allowed to suffer.