Odisha govt imposes ESMA as doctors continue protest for pay parity

The order covers doctors, nursing officers, pharmacy officers, paramedics, technicians, and Class-III and Class-IV employees, including contractual staff

Published on: Jan 6, 2026, 22:50:06 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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The Mohan Charan Majhi government on Tuesday invoked the Odisha Essential Services (Maintenance) Act to prohibit strikes by doctors and medical staff across all government healthcare facilities as doctors intensified their two-hour long cease-work demanding parity in remuneration with central government doctors, proportionate cadre restructuring across all grades and incremental incentives for super specialists, specialists among others.

The prohibition extends to all public health establishments, including district headquarters hospitals, sub-divisional hospitals, area hospitals, community health centres, primary health centres (PIXABAY/Representative Image)

The order covers doctors, nursing officers, pharmacy officers, paramedics, technicians, and Class-III and Class-IV employees, including contractual staff, working in government hospitals, medical colleges, and autonomous health institutions receiving state grants, an order by the state government’s home department (special) said.

The order makes any cessation of work or strike action by medical staff in government healthcare facilities illegal for the next six months, potentially setting up a confrontation between the protesting doctors and the state administration.

The prohibition extends to all public health establishments, including district headquarters hospitals, sub-divisional hospitals, area hospitals, community health centres, primary health centres, municipal hospitals, medical colleges, the Ahalya Bai Regional Cancer Centre (AHRCC), Regional Spinal Injury Centre, jail hospitals, and police hospitals.

The decision came in the wake of government doctors in the peripheral cadre, under the banner of the Odisha Medical Service Association intensifying their protest since December 26, disrupting outpatient department services for two hours.

The doctors’ association has been demanding remuneration parity with central government pay scales, abolition of Level-15 as followed for other Class-I officers in Odisha without any preconditions, proportionate cadre restructuring across all grades and incremental incentives for super specialists, specialists, postmortem allowances, equal performance-based incentives for Odisha Medical and Health Services (OMHS) and Odisha Medical Education Services (OMES) cadres, and implementation of an exit policy for doctors who have served over three years in the Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput region, KBK Plus areas, and tribal sub-plan zones.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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