COIMBATORE: Continuing with the demand to reinstate 50% reservation for post-graduate admissions government doctors said they will go on a mass casual leave on Monday. Only the emergency, casualty and trauma doctors will be in attendance, said a press statement from the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association As a result, more than 100 government doctors in the district are likely to be on leave on Monday. "All doctors in charge of elective surgeries, specialties and procedures will not be working on Monday," said president of the Coimbatore chapter of TNGDA N Ravishankar."However, since we do not want the patients to suffer, doctors in emergency, trauma and casualty wards will report to duty," he said. "We will also make sure that at least one doctor is present at the rural primary health care centres," he said.About 200 government doctors protested in front of the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital 's casualty ward on Saturday morning against removal of reservation for government doctors for post-graduate courses. "The quota was introduced by the government many years ago in a bid to encourage young doctors take up government postings in rural areas. More than a decade ago, no doctor wanted to work in rural areas and would refuse government jobs," said Ravishankar. "If the reservation is removed, again no doctor would agree to work in a primary health centre or a hospital outside the urban areas. They would opt for private hospitals and colleges," he said.The doctors feel the new ruling is unfair on medical graduates currently posted in rural areas, who are likely to apply for post-graduate studies in the next couple of years. "Many of them have taken up postings in rural areas, where even preparing for the NEET exam is difficult. Now to tell them that they have no reservation or preference is unfair," said a doctor.

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