Thiruvananthapuram | The ongoing agitation by a section of government doctors in Kerala, pressing for various demands, continued to affect the functioning of state medical colleges on Friday.

Patients and relatives, many of whom had travelled to hospitals from distant places, unaware of the strike, expressed disappointment over the boycott of out-patient (OP) service by doctors.

They called for immediate intervention of the state Health Department to resolve the matter.

"My family and I came from a far-off place. We stayed in a rented room here to meet the doctor and decide on further treatment for my wife, who has some serious health issues," a man told the media outside Kozhikode medical college.

He said he was not aware of the agitation.

A woman patient said people from economically weaker sections are dependent on medical colleges, and any strike there would affect poor patients like her.

"The health department should immediately intervene and resolve it. Otherwise, where do people like us go?" She asked.

The agitation has been going on for the past few weeks under the aegis of the Kerala Government Medical College Teachers' Association (KGMCTA).

While the agitation affected the OP service and theory classes in medical colleges, casuality and other emergency services are functioning unimpacted, health department sources said.

According to KGMCTA members, they are continuing the protest as multiple talks with the government over various long-pending demands, including salary revision and creation of new posts, have failed to yield any result.

The association has been demanding salary revision, payment of salary arrears between 2016 and 2020, rectification of irregularities in the pay structure for entry-level doctors, and creation of more posts in government medical colleges.