E-Paper
Haryana govt nod to creation of specialist cadre in health dept
The department also gave its consent to grant conveyance allowance to Haryana Civil Medical Services (HCMS) doctors for visiting hospitals after duty hours and performing other official duties.
After months of protests and deliberations, the Haryana finance department has approved creation of a specialist cadre within the health system.
The department also gave its consent to grant conveyance allowance to Haryana Civil Medical Services (HCMS) doctors for visiting hospitals after duty hours and performing other official duties.
Both the orders were issued separately just hours before the announcement of poll schedule for the assembly elections on Friday and comes less than a month after a two-day standoff between the government and Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA).
Last month, the HCMSA doctors had suspended all medical services, including emergency, labour and post-mortem, for two days to press for their demands. Simultaneously, the body’s office-bearers, including its president Rajesh Khyalia, had observed a hunger strike at Panchkula.
The association has been demanding charter included reducing the bond amount for postgraduate courses from the present ₹1 crore, a specialist cadre, amendment in service rules to stop direct recruitment of senior medical officers, assured career progression (ACP) and grant of allowances at a par with central government doctors.
A two-day meeting was held between Haryana chief principal secretary (to CM) Rajesh Khullar, additional chief secretary (health) Sudhir Rajpal, and additional principal secretary (to CM) Amit Kumar Agarwal and HCMSA representatives.
Dr Rajesh Khyalia said that following the meeting, the government, addressing one of the major demands, issued a notification dated July 25 to decrease the bond amount for post-graduate courses from ₹1 crore to ₹50 lakh.
Sources in the health department said that the creation of two separate cadres -- public health and hospital management cadre and clinical cadre will ease pressure on specialist doctors stuck in administrative duties with queue of patients in waiting.
It will also address the severe shortage of specialist doctors at hospitals, where several districts are without a single specialist in some departments, causing major inconvenience to patients, they said.
Dr Khyalia said, “The Friday order on specialist cadre is not enough; another notification on the rules and regulations by the health department was pending. As the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has come into place, we will push for our demands after it is lifted in October along with our ACP.”
