Doctors on Monday kept OPDs closed in govt hospitals across the state for two hours and held protests and emergency meetings to express their dissatisfaction over the govt failure to accept their demands.
The strike took place on the call of Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA). Association president Dr Rajesh Khyalia said that the authorities and the govt were informed about the two-hour OPD closure.He mentioned that doctors across all districts and at the Panchkula headquarters boycotted work for two hours to send a strong message to the govt about the delay in addressing their demands.
The association claimed that an agreement had been reached on all the demands with the then minister and officials six months ago. However, bureaucracy has stalled the files at various levels, the association alleged.
Despite numerous protests and repeated awareness efforts, the DG health office sent a proposal for only two demands just a week ago. After the agitation on July 1, the bureaucracy became active again and tried to pacify the doctors with further assurances, said the association, threatening to go on indefinite strike from July 25 if their demands were not met. The association said that out of four important demands, two (specialist cadre and reduction in PG course bond) were progressing slowly and stuck. The other two issues (amendment of service rules to stop direct recruitment of senior medical officers and provision of ACP and allowances similar to central government doctors) were facing continuous delays.
The two-hour closure of OPDs caused inconvenience to patients who arrived at hospitals in the morning. Many patients had to wait for hours for their turn to be examined. Many who came from far off villages decided to wait till the protest ended.
Rameshwar Das, a patient, said, “I came to the hospital from a nearby village and stood in a queue for many hours. Neither I got any receipt nor doctors diagnosed me. Had I known doctors were on strike, I would have not come after taking off from my work.”
Only emergency services, delivery rooms, and post-mortem services were operational to ensure that critically ill patients did not face excessive difficulties.