Hyderabad, May 26 (IANS): Medical services in government-run hospitals in Telangana were affected as junior doctors on Wednesday launched an indefinite strike to press for their demands while Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao appealed to them to immediately call off their protest.

Junior doctors began boycotting Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 elective duties at government teaching and allied hospitals across the state from Wednesday.

Alleging that there is no response to their demands from the government, they threatened to boycott even emergency duties from Thursday.

The Telangana Junior Doctors' Association (TJUDA) is demanding ex-gratia for the families of those who died in the line of duty. According to them, 34 doctors have lost their lives to Covid while discharging their duties.

The striking doctors are also demanding allotment of beds and free Covid treatment for health care workers and their families at the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS).

The association is also demanding implementation of hike in stipends, pending from January 2020 and payment of 10 per cent incentive.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister has appealed to junior doctors to immediately call off the strike and return to the duty. He said going on strike during the pandemic is not proper.

Rao, who held a meeting with officials on Covid situation, said that the government is ready to address justified demands of the junior doctors.

While junior doctors were free to raise their demands and discuss them with the government, there was no justification for going on strike on every issue and causing inconvenience to people, and that too during Covid-19 pandemic.

"If the junior doctors' demands are justified, the government has no objection to solving them. They can bring those demands to the government and get them solved. But it is not proper to abstain from duties now and then under the pretext of strike without even understanding the time and situation and causing inconvenience to people time and again. Moreover, going on strike under the present emergency situation caused by corona... no one will appreciate, not even the people," he said.

The Medical and Health Department officials brought to the notice of the Chief Minister that junior doctors are getting high stipend compared to other states. Rao enquired about the demands made by the junior doctors. The officials briefed him about the demands and he instructed that they be solved.

The Chief Minister decided to increase the honorarium paid to the senior resident doctors by 15 per cent. The same honorarium will be extended to the medical students who are engaged in Covid duties after their three years of medical course.

He instructed that better medical facilities should be provided to junior doctors and their family members at the NIMS. He directed the officials concerned to take measures so that the ex-gratia amount being extended as per the guidelines should be handed over immediately as per the junior doctors' demand.