Haryana doctors' indefinite strike to continue as talks with govt fail to make much headway

Chandigarh: The indefinite strike by around 3,000 government doctors, which began on Thursday hitting services in state-run hospitals in Haryana, will continue as a marathon round of talks between a body representing the doctors and the government failed to make much headway.

The strike has been called by the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA), which represents the government doctors in the state, to protest the non-fulfilment of their various demands.

At the end of the second round of talks which went until late evening, HCMSA president Dr Rajesh Khyalia said, "Not much headway has been made on demands like career progression scheme. So, total shutdown of health services will continue. The hunger strike by four doctors (which includes Khyalia) will also continue," he said.

He said not much outcome was achieved at the end of second round of talks with Additional Chief Secretary (Health).

"We reminded in the meeting that the government had agreed the demand pertaining to career progression scheme in an earlier meeting, but now government is not agreeing on this," he said.

Khyalia said around 3,000 doctors had gone on indefinite strike on Thursday.

The strike hit services in the state-run hospitals with long queues outside OPDs and patients complaining they were being treated by interns or retired doctors.

Seeking to resolve the issue, the government had on Wednesday invited the doctors' body for talks here.

The state government representatives, which included Rajesh Khullar, chief principal secretary to the chief minister, held talks with the doctors' body in the afternoon which was followed by another round of talks with ACS (Health).

The first round of talks began on Thursday afternoon and went on for nearly five hours.

The doctors' demands include the formation of a specialist cadre for them and a career progression scheme that ensures parity with their central government peers.

According to the association, the doctors have to submit two bonds of Rs 1 crore each for admission to postgraduate courses. It demands that the amount should be be considerably reduced.

The other demand includes no direct recruitment of senior medical officers.

On the direct recruitment of senior medical officers, the association has said it will block the growth of hundreds of medical officers awaiting promotion to the post after completion of 20 years of service.

At the end of first round of talks, Khyalia had told reporters that the government had agreed to reduce the bond amount to Rs 50 lakh.

The doctors' body had been called for further discussion on other demands with ACS (Health) at the latter's residence here in the evening.

Khyalia said not much headway took place on the assured career progression issue during the first round of talks too.

The association had called for a shutdown of health services in the government hospitals as a mark of protest over non-fulfilment of their demands.

A day ahead of the strike call, the state government had urged the doctors' association to consider the impact of the strike on the patients.

"Doctors of various government health institutions have proceeded on an indefinite strike across the state from Thursday morning," Khyalia said earlier in the day.

The institutions include civil hospitals, sub-district hospitals, community and primary health centres, he said.

Khyalia said OPD, emergency and post-mortem examination have also been impacted.

On Wednesday, four association members, including Khyalia, had also started an indefinite hunger strike in front of the office of the health services director general in Panchkula.

Long queues of patients were seen in outpatient departments (OPDs) of district hospitals at many places, including Panipat, Gurugram, Bhiwani and Hisar. The patients said they were told that the doctors were on strike.

At few other places, some patients in OPDs said they were attended to by doctors undergoing postgraduate training, retired doctors or those doing internship.

However, the health officials said alternate arrangements had been made so that not much inconvenience is caused to the patients.

"Over the past several months, we have been given repeated assurances pertaining to our various demands but those remain unfulfilled. So, we have decided to observe a total shutdown of health services, including OPD, emergency and post-mortem from Thursday," Khyalia had said on Wednesday.

"On July 18, we were assured by the additional chief secretary (health) that a notification will be issued before July 24 pertaining to two demands -- assured career progression and the bond issue... We had told the government a month ago that we will be compelled to shut down all services from July 25 (if the demands are not met)," he had added.

In a letter to the association on Wednesday, Health Minister Kamal Gupta urged the doctors to consider the impact of their strike on the general public, saying the government recognises the importance of their demands and is actively working towards a resolution that will be satisfactory to all parties involved.