CM to junior docs: Will meet your demands

Bommai tells striking medicos that the stipend and Covid risk allowance they are demanding will be released in 3 days

By Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: Responding to the demand of junior doctors for Covid -19 risk allowance, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the stipend money and risk allowance for the doctors who are on strike since the last two days, will be released in the next two to three days.

The CM told the media at Hubballi Airport on Wednesday that the funds had already been released but there were problems in its disbursement due to non-availability of documents in a few colleges. Instructions have been given to the college authorities that if they have records, then they must release the risk allowance and stipend to the students.

As for the samples of those who arrived from South Africa, they have been sent to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the results are awaited. Vigilance has been heightened on the Kerala border and the vaccination drive has been intensified, he said.

Bommai said the health department is keeping a close vigil on overseas passengers and on Kerala students who have come here for studies. Most of the para-medical staff and students working in the districts hail from Kerala and all DCs have been asked to keep an eye on them.

At SDM Medical College, Dharwad, 306 students had tested positive but seven days after the subsequent tests, only two have tested positive. None of them have severe symptoms. As a precaution, testing has been done on 7,000 persons and now, the situation is under control, he added.