Severe Shortage of Doctors: Haryana govt Doctors threaten Complete Shutdown if Demands are not met

Chandigarh: The Government doctors in Haryana may go on a complete shutdown of health services from December 29 if their demands concerning the issues related to patient care, doctor recruitment, etc. are not met by the State.

In this regard, the Haryana Civil Medical Service (HCMS) Association has already submitted a memorandum to the Health Secretary, Director General and the State Health Minister.

The doctors are demanding the recruitment of more specialist doctors in Government Service by offering them an attractive salary package. Apart from this, they are also asking for specialty allowance and they have also urged the authorities to stop direct recruitment of doctors in senior positions. 

Another demand is to ensure Assured Career Progression for Government doctors and finally they have also urged the officials to reduce the amount of bond surety required from the In-service PG Medico.

According to the association, the doctors in the State would shut down OPD services on December 27. However, if no action is taken by the State regarding their demands, they would go for a complete shutdown of all services from December 29 onwards.

Speaking to Medical Dialogues, the General Secretary of HCMS Dr Anil Yadav told Medical Dialogues, "We doctors do not advocate strike or shutdown in any way. We have chosen this profession to serve needy people, people who are in agony and pain."

"But for the last few years, we have been demanding certain demands from the Government so that more doctors are attracted to join Government Services. So that more poor people can be attended. So that more quality service is provided to the general public," he added.

Referring to the situation in Haryana, Dr. Yadav informed about the scarcity of specialist doctors in the State, where half od the posts of specialist doctors are lying vacant. Highlighting that the work environment is not conducive in Government hospitals, he mentioned how Government doctors are required to attend to several other kinds of non-clinical duties. This ultimately results in very limited time for the patients and due to the scarcity of doctors and considering the extra work is allotted to them, the situation becomes much worse.

"So, we have been demanding that doctors not be compared with the rest of the employees, the rest of the people who are working for the Government. See, doctors intervene and save a life in seconds or minutes. So it can't be compared with any other kind of job. If you perform something wrong, unintentionally also, then you are sued in consumer court. Doctors have to pay hefty amount for the compensation also," he mentioned.

Dr. Yadav opined that the solution is to gave more number of doctors and pointed out that compared to Government hospitals, doctors in private hospitals get paid 2-3 times better salary.

Therefore, the first demand of the association is to allot doctors a specialist allowance. "Earlier the Government had said that a Specialist cadre would be formed. Specialist cadre suggestions were taken from the association. However, the suggestions were not taken into account," said Dr. Yadav.

He added that a committee was formed to look into the issue why the Government doctors are taking voluntary retirement and why they are quitting services.

"A committee was formed to draft the specialist cadre also, but the specialist cadre was not drafted in a way that would in the long term attract more doctors to join Government Services. So, we had suggested certain suggestions. However, they were not taken into account," he mentioned.

He also mentioned that the second demand of the association is to stop direct recruitment of the senior medical officers. Mentioning that even the Health Minister had agreed to this point, he pointed out that if senior posts are filled directly then there will be a very narrow chance for medical officers to get promoted to those posts and this will ultimately lead to a tendency in the cadre to not join Government services with less avenues of promotion.

The association has also demanded Assured Career Progression (ACPS) at 4, 9, 13 and 20 years of service. Mentioning that such a promotion structure is already exists in Bihar, Delhi and Central Government hospitals, Dr. Yadav opined that this way doctors will get a better package and ultimately they will be encouraged to take up Government services.

Further referring to the terms and conditions of in-service Postgraduate quota for doctors, who serves in rural areas for 3-4 years, he mentioned that such a doctor is required to execute a bond to serve the State for 7 years.

For this purpose, the doctor is also required to submit two bond sureties of Rs 1 crore each. HCMS has demanded to reduce the amount of sureties to Rs 1 crore. Explaining how difficult it is to submit a surety for a property worth Rs 1 crore, the association has demanded that there should be two sureties worth Rs 50 lakh each or four sureties worth Rs 25 lakh each.

"We planned an agitation two years back also and we deferred our agitation in larger public interest. Because the Government had assured that our demands shall be met in a time bound manner. So, we cancelled the agitation. It has been 2 years since we cancelled the agitation and we are at the same level of situation. The cadre is feeling cheated," mentioned Dr. Yadav.

"We have been meeting with different government officials for the last two months. But the situation is the same. So, ultimately we have to come to such decision that we never wanted," he added while referring to the plans for a strike from December 27.

"We never wanted to shut down OPDs. We have been doing it for the patient only because in the long run it will improve the patient-care," he added.

Also Read: State hospitals to face complete shutdown of Health services from December 29, says Haryana doctor’s body