Members of the Andhra Pradesh PHC Doctors’ Association staging a protest in Vijayawada on Sunday.
| Photo Credit: G.N. RAO
Even as the PHC doctors began a hunger strike in Vijayawada on October 5, 2025 (Sunday), Health and Family Welfare Commissioner G. Veerapandian announced that the State government agreed to one of their demands to increase the in-service quota in the clinical branches for this year to 20% from the current 15%.
Mr. Veerapandian also announced that the quota, which was earlier restricted to seven clinical branches, would now be applicable to all the 15 branches.
The announcement came after the Commissioner held a meeting with the protesting PHC doctors at the office of the Director of Public Health.
As per a press release from the department, the Commissioner told the PHC doctors that the government was working on resolving their other demands as well, which included payment of allowances, time-bound promotions, among others.
The Health Department officials, during the October 1 meeting, had informed the PHC doctors that the 15% quota would be applicable to all the clinical branches.
But when the doctors continued their strike for an increase in the quota, Minister for Health and Medical Education Satya Kumar Yadav took the issue to the notice of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, after which it was decided to increase it to 20%, said Mr. Veerapandian.
He added that orders to this effect would be released immediately, and appealed to the doctors, who had been on a strike since September 29, to resume duty.
Meanwhile, the PHC doctors maintained that the quota should be fixed for five years.
“The previous year we had to stage protests across the State to demand an increase in the seats allocated for us in the PG medical courses. This year, too, we are protesting. We cannot be protesting every year,” said a doctor, participating in a hunger strike in Vijayawada.
A.P. PHC Doctors’ Association spokesperson Vinod Kumar said, “So far, we have only been demanding that the government fulfil its promise of fixing the quota at 20%, which had been announced by the Health Minister himself last year in a bid to pacify us following our protests. But the government went back on its word this year.”
Hence, the doctors would continue the strike until the government gave an assurance that it would not go back on its word once again, Dr. Vinod Kumar said.
The same was iterated in the meeting, which reportedly upset the Commissioner.
According to the press release, the Commissioner said a comprehensive study was needed to consider the scope of implementing 20% quota for the PHC doctors for the next 5 years.
‘Not feasible’
Explaining them the reasons for the government’s inability to keep 20% quota for a longer period, Mr. Veerapandian said a total of 1,089 doctors, who studied PG courses through the in-service quota, would be joining the government teaching hospitals between November 2025 and November 2027 in various posts, and that there would not be enough vacancies to absorb all the in-service doctors if quota were to be increased to 20% for the next five years.
Published – October 05, 2025 09:06 pm IST
