Haryana Doctors on indefinite strike demanding specialist cadre of doctors, revision in PG Bond policy
Chandigarh: Extending their strike beyond the outpatient department (OPD) shutdown, the doctors under the banner of Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA) have now gone on an indefinite strike suspending critical services, including emergency, labour, postmortem, jail services, and various other health services, from today.
This move comes after a one-day statewide strike observed by the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association on Wednesday.
According to recent media reports, the demands put forth by the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA) include the creation of a distinct cadre for specialist doctors, a commitment made by the Chief Minister two years ago but yet to be implemented.
Additionally, HCMSA has sought a revision in the bond amount for pursuing Post Graduate (PG) courses while in service, proposing a decrease from the current amount of Rs 1 crore to Rs 50 lakh. The association has also sought a dynamic assured career progression scheme comparable to that of other central government doctors.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, Dr Goyal, state treasurer of the association mentioned that 17 bodies were ready for total suspension of services, while two proposed to form a small team of doctors to treat life-threatening emergencies outside the hospital, which was later accepted in a meeting with the DGHS.
On Wednesday nearly 3000 government doctors affiliated with the Haryana Civil Medical Services (HCMS) Association observed a one-day strike, leading to the suspension of outpatient department (OPD) services as a collective effort to amplify their longstanding demands, leaving patients in a state of uncertainty. During this period, OPD remained closed in all government hospitals of the state and doctors did not attend to any patients. However, emergency services including the trauma center and post-mortem house remained operational.
Earlier, HCMSA called for a total shutdown of OPD for two hours from 9 am to 11 am on 9th December. The very next day, they gave a memorandum to the Haryana government regarding the pending demands including the creation of a separate cadre for specialist doctors, and warned that if their demands are not met, they would close the OPDs, but even after 17 days, the association did not get any concrete assurance from the government following which first they went on a token strike and then started an indefinite boycott of services.
The association expressed great disappointment over the fact that Health Minister Anil Vij and Chief Minister Manohar Lal had approved the creation of a separate cadre for specialist doctors two years ago but till now the government has failed to take any significant step on the matter.
Dr Rajesh Khyalia, association president informed The Indian Express, “We had not given any call to remain absent from duty on Wednesday. The doctors were present on duty. They marked their attendance, stayed there but boycotted the OPD services. They also attended emergency calls.”
Dr Anil Yadav, general secretary of the association also added, "Our demands are not new. We had been given assurance by the state health minister earlier too, but demands have not been met. It is not that we want to put the public in any kind of inconvenience, but the government should also consider that these demands are very old." Meanwhile, the HCMS Association asserted that their call for an OPD service shutdown garnered an overwhelming response, with almost 100% of doctors participating across the state, barring Ambala. However, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij contradicted these claims, labeling the strike as a "failure" and stating that only 26.86% of doctors joined the protest.
The HCMSA president said doctors are quitting due to issues related to work overload, inappropriate working conditions, shortage of medicines, security lapses at workplace, and for being denied the status of a class I officer, while there is a dearth of specialist doctors in the state and some districts don’t have even a single specialist of a particular category, reports HT
On the other hand, the government didn’t issue any statement on Thursday and is holding back on the health minister’s statement issued a day before. Vij had already termed the strike unjustified saying that the main demand for approval of specialist cadre, according to him, has already been granted, with the chief minister also giving his consent. Additionally, he had said the additional chief secretary, health, has approved the demand related to the PG policy, and the process is underway. Similarly, the demand related to the ACP scheme and direct recruitment of SMOs was also being considered, adds HT.
In response, Dr Goyal said if the demands have already been accepted, the government should release an official notification.
