Haryana govt doctors call off strike after 3 key demands addressed
Govt agrees to remove grade pay anomalies, to notify specialist cadre at the earliest and to give allowance for visit to hospital at odd/off duty hours to deal with emergency.
After a two-day standoff, the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA) and the Nayab Singh Saini-led BJP government reached an agreement around Friday midnight, addressing three key demands of the doctors and ending the impasse that had crippled health services at government medical institutions in the state.
The state government announced a “positive outcome of the talks” and the HCMSA called off the strike at 11.40pm on Friday. The HCMSA, the umbrella organisation of the government doctors, announced that the strike has been called off following the state government’s assurance to fulfil their demands by August 15.
HCMSA general secretary Dr Anil Yadav issued a statement saying that the government had on Friday night accepted their proposals and assured to notify them before August 15.Dr Yadav said all doctors had been asked to join duty from Saturday morning.
Top government sources said that doctors would be given an allowance for their visit to the hospital/dispensary during odd hours to deal with any exigency. “This monetary benefit will be given on the lines of the Centre to compensate doctors when they have to go to office at odd hours or after duty hours to deal with an emergency,” a senior government functionary said, pointing out that a formula has been decided to implement this demand.
“This allowance/compensation will be a maximum of up to ₹7,200 a month and subject to riders, such as the minimum amount to be paid and per month visits. We have worked out a formula to implement this demand,” the official said.
The government has agreed to remove grade pay related anomalies, while assuring that the specialist cadre will be notified at the earliest. The cadre, once notified, will address a major concern of the doctors.
Since Thursday, the indefinite strike by the doctors in support of their demands had a crippling effect on health services in state-run hospitals.
The HCMSA demand 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 on a par with central government doctors.
Haryana chief principal secretary (to CM) Rajesh Khullar, additional chief secretary (health) Sudhir Rajpal, and additional principal secretary (to CM) Amit Kumar Agarwal held talks with HCMSA representatives that stretched to six hours on Thursday. As the logjam prevailed, the talks resumed on Friday afternoon and continued till past midnight.
Officers privy to the developments said once the specialist cadre is notified, most of the concerns of the doctors related to their career graph will be addressed.
After the first round of talks on Thursday, the government had engaged the HCMSA representatives in another round of talks at the residence of ACS (health) Rajpal. The discussions revolved around steps the government had taken to implement the specialist cadre, the sources said, adding that the government had already issued a notification to decrease the bond amount for post-graduate courses..
