Srinagar: Intern doctors of the 2021 MBBS batch at SKIMS Medical College, Bemina, started a hunger strike on Monday after days of campus protest failed to produce a written government order on their stipend.
The interns want the monthly internship pay raised from Rs 12,300 to Rs 30,000. They say talks with the administration have brought only verbal assurances and that they will not call off the sit-in until a formal notification is issued. Their line, circulated among colleagues, is that there will be no end to the protest without a written order.
The action is part of a wider stir by MBBS and BDS interns at government medical colleges across Jammu and Kashmir, now into its second week. Interns have also decided not to take up extra emergency shifts on a voluntary basis until the demand is settled. Student leaders have asked the Lieutenant Governor’s office to step in. The Health and Medical Education Department has earlier said the claim is being examined and that the issue is genuine.
SKIMS Bemina interns go on hunger strike over stipend
