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Doctors’ 3-hr daily strike begins today, to hit OPD services across Punjab
Over 2,500 Punjab doctors will strike for three hours from Sept 9-11, suspending OPD services to demand better security and career progression.
Over 2,500 government doctors will observe a three-hour strike in support of their various demands from Monday, suspending the outpatient department (OPDs) services at the health centres, including civil and district hospitals, even as the Punjab health and family welfare department has come up with guidelines for prevention of violence against healthcare professionals. The services related to emergency, post-mortem and medicolegal examinations will continue as usual.
The Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA), which has announced the strike, stated that the OPD services would be suspended from 8 am to 11 am between September 9 and 11. Dr Akhil Sarin, president of the PCMSA, has already warned that if the government fails to address their demands, there will be a complete suspension of health services from September 12 onwards.
“Initially, we had planned to fully suspend the OPD services from September 9 but decided to limit it after the Punjab government’s request to moderate the strike until our meeting with the cabinet sub-committee, led by finance minister Harpal Cheema, on September 11,” he said.
The association’s primary demands include reinstatement of the Assured Career Progression (ACP) scheme, implementation of security provisions for healthcare workers (HCWs), time-bound recruitment of medical officers (MOs) and release of the pending Central Pay Commission (CPC) arrears.
Multiple meetings of the PCMSA with Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh and other officials early this week couldn’t reach any conclusion.
Though the Punjab government has advertised 400 posts for medical officers (general) and issued a notification to form health boards in each district, headed by the deputy commissioners (DCs), to ensure workplace security for healthcare professionals, Dr Sarin remained skeptical, stating, “Similar promises were made in April, but nothing was implemented. We need to see the actual security measures in place at all 24/7 facilities.”
The PCMSA pointed out that the current number of doctors in Punjab stands at 2,800 against the sanctioned strength of 4,600.
Security concerns are also a major issue, with the association noting that hundreds of primary health centres (PHCs) and community health centres (CHCs) are operating without a single security guard. A female doctor from a rural health centre in Patiala said, “Sometimes, we have to work without any male staff at night. We are constantly under fear of being attacked or harassed, as there are no security arrangements.”
Meanwhile, Dr Hitinder Kaur, director health services, issued directions to the civil surgeons across the state, asking them to constitute six-member district health boards under the chairmanship of DCs involving concerned senior superintendents of police (SSPs), civil surgeons, PCMS representatives and paramedical staff and legal experts to ensure security of the healthcare professionals at their workplaces.
The fresh directions came following PCMSA members met health minister Dr Balbir Singh on August 19, keeping in mind the Kolkata incident wherein a woman doctor was raped and murdered.
The department also instructed to assure that the institutions with heavy footfall be attached to the nearest police stations besides ensuring CCTV cameras, lighting arrangements and regular patrolling in the dark areas of the institutions.
According to the directions, hospital security committees and violence prevention committees will also be there at the government health institutions to conduct security audit on quarterly basis, identify gaps and address the shortcomings within a week. Besides, health institutions will also have a five-member internal committee on sexual harassment.
It has been made mandatory for the institution head to get lodged institutional FIR in case of any violence against any health worker.
