Haryana Govt Doctors end strike as Govt accepts their demands

Chandigarh: After receiving assurances from the state government that their demands would be met, more than 3,000 government doctors in Haryana ended their indefinite strike on Saturday, the chief of the association leading the shutdown said.

The strike, which began on Thursday, was called off following a meeting between the protesting doctors and Amit Aggarwal, additional principal secretary to the Haryana Chief Minister, late Friday night. Dr Khyalia confirmed that the doctors had resumed their duties after the strike was lifted.

"We have called off the strike," he said, news agency PTI reported.

The doctors are demanding a career progression scheme that ensures parity with their central government peers, a reduction in the bond amount for admission to postgraduate courses from Rs 1 crore to Rs 50 lakh and formation of a specialist cadre for them.

As per a media report in the HT, 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.

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. 

Around 3,000 government doctors had gone on an indefinite strike on Thursday to press the state government to accept their demands. The strike hit medical services in state-run hospitals in Haryana.

According to a PTI report, a series of meetings were held between the representatives of the association and the state government to end the stalemate. Among those who represented the government in these meetings were Rajesh Khullar, chief principal secretary to the chief minister, and Sudhir Rajpal -- the additional chief secretary (health).

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