A meeting between the doctors and the NAMS management Sunday reached agreement and both parties are expected to sign the declaration Monday. However, the resident doctors have still not returned to duty and services including emergency remain affected at Bir Hospital.
"We have almost reached agreement on most of the issues and will most likely sign on it tomorrow morning," said the rector at NAMS, Dr Shrikrishna Giri.
Dr Giri said the management has agreed to raise the stipend by Rs 2,000, raise night duty allowance to Rs 500, increase duty rooms and provide free treatment for the resident doctors at a private cabin in Bir.
"Almost all the demands were financial and it is difficult to fulfill all of them. However, almost all of them have been addressed and they (doctors) have agreed. But we will not be able to provide quarters," Dr Giri said.
The resident doctors, however, blamed the management of trying to trigger a split in the Residents´ Association of NAMS by making differentiation of private and government doctors. "They have said that they would raise the stipend of the doctors studying on self finance and not of those studying on government scholarship. We do not accept this and want all doctors to get a raise," advisor of the association Dr Bikash Bikram Adhikari said.
Dr Adhikari was upbeat, though, that the management will relent and agreement will be reached Monday morning. "The management was defiant till yesterday but today they were very positive. They have also agreed to arrange necessary equipment for the benefit of patients," Dr Adhikari stated. "Had they shown such attitude before, the patients would not have to suffer due to our protest," he added.
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