Haryana government doctors on Monday staged a protest outside the office of the Director General, Health Services (DGHS) to press for the long-standing demands.
Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA) president Dr Rajesh Khyalia said that they would be forced to start an indefinite agitation if the demands of the doctors are not met.
Dr Khyalia said that the association has made umpteenth representations and requests to the state government to resolve the demands of the doctors. “We deferred our agitation six months ago after an assurance from the government. But there has been no progress,” he said.
HCMSA general secretary Dr Anil Yadav said the there was a huge shortage of specialist doctors which is adversely affecting the quality of health services in government healthcare institutions.
“The association has been requesting the state government to take tangible steps to get specialists in the cadre. Secondly, doctors have to submit two bonds of a crore each for pursuing in-service postgraduate courses. The bond amount is too high, and doctors find it difficult to arrange the amount. The association has demanded that the bond amount as per the previous policy be restored. It was mutually agreed also to reduce the bond amount,” Dr Yadav said.
He said that there was a huge stagnation in the cadre as there are very few promotional avenues. “Around 95% of cadre only gets one promotion from medical officer to senior medical officer throughout their entire service. It was mutually agreed in a meeting with the then health minister in January that there will not be any direct recruitment at senior medical officer level in the future and service rules will be amended accordingly,” Dr Yadav said.
{{/usCountry}}He said that there was a huge stagnation in the cadre as there are very few promotional avenues. “Around 95% of cadre only gets one promotion from medical officer to senior medical officer throughout their entire service. It was mutually agreed in a meeting with the then health minister in January that there will not be any direct recruitment at senior medical officer level in the future and service rules will be amended accordingly,” Dr Yadav said.
{{/usCountry}}Dr Khyalia reiterated that the doctors would observe a two-hour pen down strike on July 15, thus affecting the outpatient department (OPD) services from 9 am to 11 am in government healthcare institutions across the state.
“In case there is no affirmative action with regards to our demands, then we will be forced to shut down all medical services, including emergency care and postmortem, indefinitely from July 25 onwards,” the HCMSA president said.