Interns press government for written assurance; OPDs affected
BHOPAL: Intern doctors at Gandhi Medical College-Hamidia Hospital continued a protest for the second consecutive day on Tuesday near Kamla Park, close to the Chief Minister’s residence, pressing for a hike in their monthly stipend and objecting to police action during Monday’s demonstration, according to media reports.
The protesting medicos have demanded that their monthly stipend be increased from ₹14,337 to ₹30,000. They staged a sit-in on the road near Kamla Park, affecting traffic on the busy arterial route, and boycotted outpatient department duties at the government-run hospital while the demonstration continued, the reports said.
- Interns held a dharna on a main road near Kamla Park, influencing traffic and commuter movement.
- Police used water cannon and there were reports of cane-charge during an earlier attempt to disperse protesters.
- Support and solidarity protests took place at other medical colleges in Madhya Pradesh, including MGM Medical College, Indore.
Attempts by administration and police to persuade the interns to call off the protest were unsuccessful, the coverage said. Junior doctors at Hamidia also extended support, particularly objecting to what they described as the manner in which police handled the demonstration outside the hospital on Monday.
"The protest may be happening on the road here, but those present here include our colleagues from various medical colleges of MP, as our long pending demand of increasing the monthly stipend from Rs 14,337 to Rs 30,000 concerns all of them," an intern doctor identified in reports said. He added that they would not leave until they received written assurances from the government and action against the erring police personnel.
Solidarity across MP, authorities seek talks
Solidarity actions were reported from other medical colleges in the state. At MGM Medical College in Indore, interns and junior doctors staged protests in support of their colleagues in Bhopal, the reports noted. The protestors said the demand for a higher stipend affected trainees across state government medical institutions.
Traffic disruption was reported on the arterial road used for the sit-in. The protestors intended to picket the Chief Minister’s residence but were stopped by a security barricade; police presence and attempts to disperse the crowd on Monday included the use of water cannon followed by cane-charging, according to the accounts.
| Item | Reported figure / detail |
|---|---|
| Current monthly stipend (reported) | ₹14,337 |
| Demanded stipend | ₹30,000 |
| Primary protest site | Near Kamla Park, close to CM residence; Gandhi Medical College-Hamidia Hospital |
District and police officials were reported to have tried to negotiate with the interns. Efforts to secure a written assurance from the state government and formal action against police personnel involved in crowd control appeared to be central to the protesters’ position.
The protest has implications for service delivery at the state-run hospital as intern and junior doctor participation in outpatient duties was reduced. Medical educators, hospital administrators and health department officials will need to consider both the immediate restoration of services and the substantive demand on stipend revision, which the interns say is long-pending.
The demonstrations also underline wider tensions between trainee healthcare workers and authorities over compensation and working conditions — an issue that can affect staffing, training outcomes and patient care in public hospitals that serve large rural and urban populations across Madhya Pradesh.
Local residents and commuters were inconvenienced by congestion on the arterial road during the protest. The situation prompted calls from administration officials for protesters to allow traffic movement, especially to avoid hampering access for medical emergencies.
As of the latest reports, no official written assurance from the state government had been produced at the protest site and the interns said they would continue their demonstration until formal commitments were received.
