State health minister Surjya Kanta Mishra has indicated that the announcement of the revised stipend could be made in the Assembly session starting from Tuesday. Finance minister Asim Dasgupta, too, assured that his department will clear the proposal within 12 hours.

“If I get the health department’s recommendations in the morning, our department will study the proposals, take the decision and clear them by the evening,” Dasgupta said on Monday, after addressing a convention called by CPM- backed Junior Doctors Council at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital.

Mishra, on the other hand, said: “The announcement may be made during the Assembly or we will declare it later, depending on whether the proposals are cleared or not. We don’t want any confrontation with junior doctors. We are trying to fulfill their demands as much as possible. But if the services are hampered even after this, some steps will have to be taken”.

A section of junior doctors at SSKM Medical College and Hospital and Calcutta Medical College and Hospital went on an indefinite strike earlier this month, with complaints of a measly stipend structure being offered to them.

Apart from the stipend, which has been a nagging issue, they also complained that they have to shoulder the workload at the hospitals, without any assistance from seniors.

“If the senior doctor is not present or doesn’t attend to the patient, we are at the receiving end. When something goes wrong we draw the flak and face the wrath of the patients’ family,” complained a junior doctor.

At the convention, the ministers assured them that the problems would be looked into. Later in the day, Dasgupta said at the Writers’ Buildings that appointment of doctors, nurses and healthcare staff has been cleared.

“Within this year, 300 teachers for the medical colleges, 4,000 nurses and 2,000 health workers will be appointed. We have also decided to increase the grant for books and medical journals from

Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. We have also decided that the number of seats for junior doctors will be increased,” Dasgupta said.