Junior doctors to withdraw non-emergency services in A.P. from August 12

Published 11 August 2026 · local

Non-emergency services in government medical colleges and teaching hospitals across Andhra Pradesh will be discontinued on Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., as talks

Non-emergency services in government medical colleges and teaching hospitals across Andhra Pradesh will be discontinued on Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., as talks with State health officials failed to yield a positive outcome, members of the A.P. Junior Doctors’ Association (APJUDA) said. In a release issued on Monday night following a meeting with Health Department officials, the APJUDA announced that the strike, which had been put on hold for a week awaiting the government’s response, would resume on August 11. In response to the call, junior and senior residents at several government medical colleges and hospitals abstained from duties between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Tuesday. With another round of talks on Tuesday evening also failing to yield a positive outcome, the APJUDA announced a “complete withdrawal of non-emergency services” from Wednesday.

The association’s main demands include periodic enhancement of the stipend paid to postgraduate students and interns, which is overdue by more than seven months. Speaking to The Hindu at the protest site at Andhra Medical College in Visakhapatnam, Dr. Mohammed Siraz Shah, a final-year postgraduate in General Medicine, and Dr. Kothuru Ravindar, a second-year postgraduate in the same department, said the protest was based on Government Order No. 287, issued on December 17, 2009. The order provides for a biannual stipend revision of about 15% linked to inflation. “The government is not adhering to its own G.O. We are only asking for our rightful entitlement,” they said. T. Nishant, a second-year postgraduate at Kurnool Medical College, said the increasing workload and pressure had also taken a toll on the mental health of junior doctors.

“Since last year, our outpatient timings have been increased by three hours. Earlier, we used to work from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., but now we stay until 4 p.m. On top of this, we have also been burdened with digitising health records,” he said. APJUDA treasurer Ranjeet Dhabale said the association had urged the government to consider its demands several times in the past. A senior health official, however, said the department had received the association’s first official communication on the issue in July. Following this, the department began studying the stipend revision models followed in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the official said. The APJUDA has demanded that the biannual stipend hike be increased from 15% to 30%, citing rising inflation and workload.