Bengaluru: Karnataka’s Covid-19 data-gathering efforts have run into trouble as government medical officers have launched an indefinite state-wide agitation demanding a raise in salary.The strike has led to under-reporting of Covid cases in the daily health bulletin with some districts not reporting new cases and at least nine districts not updating the daily discharges on Tuesday. Although all districts reported new cases on Wednesday, most of them did not report recoveries in the past 24 hours. The situation is likely to continue till Friday when the Karnataka Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA) is expected to take a call on the future course of action.“Our members are attending to work as before and are discharging their responsibilities. We have made sure the strike does not hurt the treatment of Covid-19 patients and those suffering from other illnesses,” association president Srinivas GA told ET.The medical officers on strike have abstained from updating and sharing the daily Covid data from taluks and districts. The doctors claimed they have informed patients about the test report so that there is no delay in getting treated for Covid.A meeting chaired by deputy chief minister CN Ashwath Narayan on Tuesday with the representatives of the striking doctors is seen as partly successful as the government agreed to pay heed to some of their demands.One of the demands of the medical officers is to raise their salaries on a par with officers from the medical education department. The government, while urging the doctors to call off the strike, agreed to pay incentives as a salary hike at this juncture was not possible in view of the rising public expenditure due to the Covid pandemic and a sharp fall in tax revenues.
The association has, however, maintained that the doctors’ demand was a longstanding one. “We have demanded a salary hike several times in the past,” Srinivas said. The state health officials said that the strike call and holding back of the data was temporary. “Things will be fine in a couple of days,” a senior official said.
