They were demanding an increase in salary at par with the Central government doctors under the Sixth Pay Commission. Apart from overall revision of the pay package, they also demanded an increase in postmortem charges, which at present is Rs 10.

Dr B P Singh, General Secretary of the employees’ association, told The Indian Express: “Due to shortage of staff, our workload has increase enormously. But the government is sticking to its age-old policy of reimbursements. We will stop our agitation until the chief minister pays attention to our demands.”

The doctors will continue to tie black bands till January 4. From January 5, they will boycott outdoor patient services from 9 am to 11 am. “If the government does not listen to our demands, we will go on a total strike from January 12,” added Singh.