This year too, resident doctors across the state are gearing up for an indefinite strike from November 22, demanding parity in pay scales with their counterparts in central medical institutes. This despite the fact that a cash-strapped state government has already thrown up its hands, agreeing only to setting up a committee to look into their other problems.

As committees go, there is no cause for celebration. The report of the Sarpatnekar Committee, set up in the early nineties on similar lines, was never accepted. The panel had suggested that an inflation index be added to the Dearness Allowance of residents to absorb therising costs of living.

For working almost 24 hours a day, resident doctors in the state have always been paid much less than their counterparts elsewhere. As Dr Arshad Gulam Moh'd of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) recalls: ``When they were paid around Rs 3,000 in Delhi, we were getting Rs 700. It is only because they proved their nuisance value. Here, residents have always tried to learn and work.'' As of now, in Delhi, residents earn between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000.

Says Dr Rajas Deshpande, Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) organising secretary, ``There has been no parity for the last 30 years... Every three years, a new batch of post-graduate students will come, they feel dissatisfied and will go on strike.'' In the state, the stipend is in the range of Rs 4,000-6,000, though the government will have to spend only Rs 30 crore for ensuring parity, Dr Deshpande says.

Again, unlike their counterparts, there are no fixed working hours for residents here. A Central ResidencyScheme, introduced by the Central Government in 1982, laid down the guidelines for residents, including the stipulated working hours which are not to be more than 48 hours a week. No resident should be on call for more than 24 hours. But the state government, in its new residency scheme brought out in 1995-96, made no mention of working hours or emoluments.

The result, say residents, is ``exploitation''. ``They know we need our degrees and that we will work even if we are paid less,'' says a resident doctor at KEM, Parel. With their day starting at 7 am and going on till midnight, more often than not residents are left with little or no time to study, sleep or eat.

And with their status as students, residents have less bargaining power. After the last strike in December 1995, three leaders two from KEM and one from JJ, Byculla were rusticated, in a case they were not directly involved. They were taken back only because their teachers threatened to resign.

On the flip side, their leaders are known tohave compromised for purely monetary or selfish considerations, a fact admitted even by the current set of MARD office-bearers. ``The government knows its cards, like advancing diploma candidates into degree levels,'' says a resident.

But teachers so far haven't ``victimised us,'' says Dr Deshpande, though they haven't spoken out in support either. ``That's because teachers are scared of transfers,'' says Dr Shashank Joshi, consultant endocrinologist, MGM Hospital, Parel.

The government though has resorted to even more clever ploys, as in the last strike. ``After increasing residents' salaries by Rs 800-1,000, they immediately hiked the fees. They also started charging fees for securing certificates like experience or bonafide certificates, which were free earlier. And they cut down on post-graduate registration by nearly 25 per cent, reducing the workload,'' says a MARD representative.

Residents also have to grapple with the problem of finding accommodation. According to Dr Joshi, resident doctors inDelhi are provided rent-free quarters. In Mumbai, two-three residents juggle for space in one room. At KEM for instance, there are 540-odd residents and only 200-odd rooms. At Sion, new quarters, set up three months back, has served to lessen the problems. ``Earlier, eight of us used to stay in one room, with just four cots,'' says a resident.

At Nair, Mumbai Central, three to four people stay in one room, says a resident. ``We have three hostels, and only one has a water cooler. The water supply is erratic, and there are no geysers,'' the resident adds. The rooms are infested with rats, he says, adding: ``All of us have suffered rat bites, I got one just two days back.''

While Dr Joshi says the timing of the strike is wrong -- ``the government should have been given time to settle down'' -- there are no quarrels about the fact that residents are underpaid and overworked, and that public hospitals are run by the residents. ``The question is whether we shouldn't do away with residency altogether, and giveresidents temporary employee status,'' he suggests.