Tamil Nadu: Govt Doctors Association protest against increase in PHC'S working hours

Coimbatore: After the Tamil Nadu government issued an order to increase the working hours of Primary Health Centres a protest has been staged by the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association (TNGDA) in front of the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital premises at Palayamkottai.

Demanding the state government withdraw the order, the TNGA said that they would boycott all the services starting from the mega COVID-19 vaccination camps organized across Tamil Nadu to any review meeting chaired by Collectors and the Deputy Director of Health Services if the order is not withdrawn.

The members of the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association have also staged a protest in front of the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH), demanding the government withdraw the order. 

Earlier, the working hours of PHCs were from 8 am to 4 pm which was reduced to 9 am to 4 pm after repeated demands from the doctors in 2009. The association's district chairman, R. Dhanapal observed that the working hours were reduced by an hour in 2009 following a recommendation made by an expert committee during the time of the previous DMK government led by the then Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi. 

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However, the state government has again increased the working hours of PHCs with effect from August 1, 2022, and the workload of doctors working in PHCs has gone up in the last few years. The government order specifying the revision in working hours was published on July 25 and was issued to district health departments on August 3. The government issued the order with the aim to benefit the patients attending the outpatient department.

The protest was led by TNGDA president K. Sugumar reports the Hindu. Around 50 doctors working in government hospitals and PHCs across Coimbatore carried out the strike, opposing the government order.

TNGDA state general secretary N Ravishankar said, "The government order revising the duty timings is unwarranted and inhumane in such a way that it mounts pressure on medical officers and staff at PHCs. Health workers have to work for 48 hours in a week instead of 40," adding, "Doctors and staff are already working beyond the duty timings as per on-duty and call-duty to attend to critical patients. and provide treatment."

Dr N Rajkumar, Medical Officer of the Pollachi Kanjampatti PHC said, "Already, we are working beyond the working hours due to call duty. Apart from that, the doctors are also asked to attend meetings regularly which go on till 9 PM. And such meetings take place 3 to 4 times a week. With such a work schedule, we don't have time to spend with our family."

Talking about their already present workload, Dhanapal said, "We are the ones implementing various government programmes like Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam, school health programme." Further, he said that they were required to attend emergency calls after working hours, prepare a lot of reports of the schemes and take up COVID vaccination camps. He observed that while the world is moving towards fewer working hours for improved productivity, the increased working load would only reduce the work efficiency of doctors. 

A PHC officer told Times of India, "We are already working till 8 pm and some days, beyond that. The revision in duty timings will affect our personal life because we have to drop children to school in the morning." According to one medical officer, around 70% of PHCs in Coimbatore are managed by one medical officer and health staff. The officer said, "Instead of revising the duty timings, the government must recruit more health workers to ease our workload."

With the new order, the PHC doctors who had been previously working for 42 hours a week apart from five hours of call duty would be made to work for 48 hours a week excluding the call duty hours. A statement issued by the TNGDA observed that over 11 lakh government employees and teachers in the State work only 37.5 hours a week. It further observed that the Pay Commission had recommended an average of 40 hours of work per week for government employees, reports the Hindu. 

Meanwhile, the members of TNGDA protested outside the office of the Deputy Director of Health Services (DDHS) in Tiruppur. They raised slogans against the government order and demanded its withdrawal. Further, the doctors submitted a petition to the DDHS demanding not to increase the duty hours. 

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