Demanding Revision in Bond Amount, Cadre for specialists, Haryana Govt Doctors threaten to launch Agitation from July 1

Chandigarh: Pointing out that their demands are still unaddressed despite Government assurance around five months ago, the government doctors in Haryana, under the umbrella of the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA), have decided to start an agitation from July 1 if the State fails to resolve the issues.

Medical Dialogues had reported that last year HCMSA had announced an indefinite strike suspending critical services, including emergency, labour, postmortem, jail services, and various other health services. The association had several demands including the the creation of a distinct cadre for specialist doctors, revision in bond amount for doctors pursuing postgraduate medical courses while in service, and a dynamic assured career progression scheme comparable to that of other central government doctors.

However, later the association opted to defer their planned strike after a meeting with the health department officials. During the meeting, crucial proposals were discussed and addressed.

Also Read: Haryana Doctors on indefinite strike demanding specialist cadre of doctors, revision in PG Bond policy

However, even after getting assurance from the government, the association has pointed out that their demands have still not been addressed and considering this, the association has decided to start an agitation from July 1. The General Secretary of HCMSA, Dr. Anil Yadav informed Hindustan Times that a meeting of the State Level core committee was held on June 16 to discuss the status of their demands.

Issuing a statement, Dr. Yadav said, "There was a great sense of resentment among HCMSA members as the government has not fulfilled the promises made in meeting held with director general health services (DGHS) in December 29, 2023. The association had postponed its agitation on the basis of assurance given by the DGHS. Subsequently, a meeting was held with the health minister on January 29, 2024, to fulfil the demands in a time bound manner. Unfortunately, even after five months these demands have not been fulfilled. The members have expressed their displeasure and consider it as a breach of trust."

"There was a huge shortage of specialists in Haryana and the association has been requesting the state government to take concrete steps to get specialists in the cadre. The association said the doctors have to submit two bonds of a crore each for pursuing in-service post graduate courses. This bond amount is very high and is difficult to arrange. Therefore, the association has demanded that the bond amount as per previous policy be restored. It was mutually agreed to reduce the bond amount. The proposal of submitting ₹50 lakh as surety and ₹ ₹50 lakh through post-dated cheque is in the process but there is undue delay in notification," the Statement further added.

The association has already met with the Health Minister and a meeting is fixed with the Additional Chief Secretary today. 

As per the association, the doctors are struggling to get even basic things including promotion, probation clearance, assured career progression, early disposal of charge sheet cases etc. Dr. Yadav informed HT, "The HCMSA is having a meeting with additional chief secretary, health on June 21 to discuss these issues. As health sector is an important issue, the state government must take concrete steps to resolve these issues at the earliest to retain doctors in the cadre and provide them with conducive working environment. In case, there is no satisfactory and time progress regarding our demands, then we will be forced to adopt the path of agitation from July 1 onwards."

"We were given assurance that the demands would be met in a time-bound manner. Five months have passed but nothing has been done yet," Dr. Yadav told Medical Dialogues.

However, he clarified that the association is planning to start an agitation and not a strike, keeping the welfare of the patients in mind. "We are demanding better health facilities for the people of Haryana. If our suffering is not taken care of, how can we serve people," he added.

Meanwhile, the President of the association, Dr. Rajesh Khyalia informed HT that there is a huge stagnation in the cadre because of lesser promotional avenues. 

"Around 95% of cadre only gets one promotion from medical officer to senior medical officer throughout their entire service. It was mutually agreed in the January 29 meeting that there will not be any direct recruitment at senior medical officer level in the future and service rules will be amended accordingly. But unfortunately, the proposal regarding this have not been initiated by the DGHS office yet. On the contrary authorities are still considering to recruit direct senior medical officers for the reasons best known to them," he said.

Dr. Khyalia further informed the Daily that during the January 29 meeting, it was decided that the doctors must be given assured career progression or allowances at par with the central government doctors. However, no proposal have been initiated by the DGHS office yet.

Also Read: Haryana Govt doctors call off strike after talks with DGHS