The 3% and 5% annual stipend hikes proposed by the State government for junior doctors and interns are inadequate and unjustifiable, the Andhra Pradesh Junior Doctors’ Association (APJUDA) said in a late-night release on Wednesday (August 19, 2026), even as it scaled down its own demand from a 30% biennial revision to 20%.

The association was responding to a press release issued by the Department of Health, Medical and Family Welfare on Wednesday, in which Health Secretary G. Veerapandian said the government could not concede the protesting junior doctors’ demand owing to the State’s financial situation and proposed a 3% annual stipend hike. The doctors said the amount was too inadequate to compensate for the prevailing rate of inflation.

In their 13-point statement, they said the proposed hike also failed to address the accumulated shortfall in stipend revision over the previous two years. Given the financial situation, however, the doctors scaled down their initial demand for a biennial stipend hike of 30% to 20%.

The doctors had been receiving a stipend hike of 15% once every two years until now, and had initially demanded that this be increased to 30%. The government, in its release, did not mention 30% anywhere, but continued to maintain that even the continuation of the 15% hike was not possible.

In their statement, the junior doctors, senior residents and interns said a 15% increase in stipends would result in an additional annual expenditure of ₹87.91 crore. “This amount constitutes approximately 0.5% of the total Budget allocated to the health department in the Budget Estimates for 2026-27, and approximately 0.03% of the total State Budget for 2026-27,” they wrote.

They said it was disheartening that the State government did not address their other two demands: strict adherence to National Medical Commission (NMC) regulations regarding the recruitment of MSc- and PhD-qualified candidates, and opposition to the proposed increase in the retirement age to 65 years.

In its release, the health department had said that increasing the stipend was not possible also because Assistant Professors themselves received less. To that, the junior doctors said the Assistant Professors had not received the benefit of one Pay Revision Commission (PRC), which would otherwise have resulted in a further increase in their salaries.

The APJUDA asked the State government for an opportunity to put forth its concerns before the Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister, the Finance Minister and the Health Minister. Until a resolution was reached, it said, the doctors would continue the strike, withdrawing from all emergency and non-emergency services.

On Wednesday night, candlelight rallies were taken out at many government hospitals in the State in opposition to the government’s release. Rallies and demonstrations continued on Thursday (August 20, 2026), the tenth day of the strike and the fourth since emergency services were withdrawn.

Published - August 20, 2026 02:53 pm IST