The Jammu Doctors Association has urged the state's Health Minister Bali Bhagat to fulfil their demands, including 50 per cent reservation in the upcoming medical colleges for specialist doctors from the state with teaching experience and fixed promotion time period from consultants to senior consultants, among others.

In a letter to Bhagat, the association has also sought exemption from paying toll tax, a facility currently available to the defence and police personnel."As doctors are in essential services, toll tax for all doctors should be exempted like police and defence personnel," reads the letter which is with IANS."Two annual conferences for the doctors of Jammu and Kashmir should be made compulsory every year so that doctors can update their knowledge which in turn will help better patient management."They also sought the promotion of all medical officers with post graduation degrees as junior consultants. Currently, the situation is such that many doctors working for 15-20 years are working as medical officers.

"Doctors working in periphery do not have proper accommodation for them. Well furnished accommodation should be provided to doctors so that they can work in a healthy environment," said Balvinder Singh, President, Jammu Doctors Association.Singh, who has previously been a faculty at Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital, said most of the doctors do not have duty room in the hospitals due to which the female doctors, in particular, suffer."Each hospital should have a proper doctors duty room. There also are no consultants room despite strict guidelines by the Medical Council of India," Singh told IANS.