Junior doctors at Karnataka’s government medical colleges are demanding to be taken off Covid duty, saying the pandemic shift is denying them the time to pursue the postgraduate courses they have enrolled in.

They have also demanded a waiver of this year’s PG tuition fees saying constant Covid duty has turned 2020 into a wasted year for them academically, bereft of lectures, seminars or indoor and OPD experience in their specialities.

Both the junior and senior resident doctors are also seeking immediate clearance of their stipend arrears and the introduction of a risk allowance for those among them now serving at the Covid care centres.

Members of the Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors met medical education director P.G. Gireesh on Tuesday with their demands.

Some 3,000 junior residents (those yet to complete their PG courses) and more than 700 senior residents (who have completed their PG courses) are posted at the state’s 14 government medical colleges, 69 Covid care centres and other state-run hospitals.

The PG students among them, enrolled in the government medical colleges, say all of them have been put on Covid duty. They want the government to relocate the Covid care centres out of their campuses and recruit fresh doctors to run them.

“We have had no academics for nine months. So, we want the annual fees of Rs 1.10 lakh (which the PG students have already paid) to be carried over to the next year,” a PG student from the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute said.

Gireesh, however, told this newspaper the students had “understood the situation” and promised to cooperate with the government.

“I told them the stipend dues would be paid soon. But it’s wrong to say they need risk allowance, a fee waiver and the reservation of the medical college hospitals only for non-Covid cases,” Gireesh, a cardiology professor at the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, said.

“The government had hiked their stipends in May by 30 to 50 per cent considering that the junior and senior residents were deployed at the Covid care centres. And now they are asking for a risk allowance....”

The senior residents are entitled to a monthly stipend of Rs 60,000 and the junior residents, Rs 45,000.

Association president L. Dayananda Sagar said the resident doctors were not ready to retract their demands. “We will try and meet the health minister,” he said.

Postgraduate medical student C. Namratha said: “For the last nine months, we have only handled Covid cases. We want the government to allow us to complete our courses.”

She said Karnataka had enough hospitals to handle “a waning epidemic”.

“Lakhs of non-Covid patients have been denied treatment at government medical college hospitals. This amounts to a threat to their lives and a shortage of patients for medical students,” she said.

Karnataka has witnessed a steady decline in daily Covid cases, from over 10,000 on October 1 to 998 on Monday. However, the state health department has forecast a likely second wave, owing to the festival season, around January-February.

If the PG students want to be taken off Covid duty, why are they demanding a risk allowance?

“All we are asking for is a risk allowance for the nine months we have worked at the Covid centres, and letters of appreciation for our services,” Namratha said.

PG student Awanna Bagewadi regretted that the fees the Karnataka government charged for postgraduate medical courses was among the highest in the country.

“We are paying over Rs 1 lakh a year and yet are unable to complete our academics. If the government doesn’t relieve us of Covid duty, we won’t be able to focus on our specialisations,” he said.