Haryana government doctors hold two-hour strike to push for demands, pause OPD services
Chandigarh (PTI): Government doctors in Haryana on Thursday observed a two-hour pen-down strike and kept the OPD services closed over non-fulfilment of their demands.
These include no direct recruitment of senior medical officers (SMOs) and implementation of the career progression scheme.
The strike -- observed between 9 am and 11 am -- followed a call given by the Haryana Civil Medical Services (HCMS) Association, a body representing government doctors in the state.
It had said the OPD services, except emergency and labour room and operations, would remain suspended.
At several places, the OPD services were impacted.
Dr Rajesh Khyalia, president, HCMS Association, said, "For a long time, we have been demanding that there should be no direct recruitment of SMOs. A few years ago, Minister Anil Vij, who held the health department, had ordered that there be no direct recruitment of the SMOs, and last year, too, the government had agreed on this. But now, it is again planning the direct recruitment."
The association is also demanding the implementation of the assured progression scheme.
“Even after being approved by the chief minister, the scheme is stuck at the bureaucratic level and has not been implemented or notified," he added.
The doctors from a number of government health institutions observed the strike across the state, Khyalia said.
He said the further course of action pertaining to their demands would be charted soon.
The association said the direct recruitment of SMOs would block the growth of hundreds of medical officers awaiting promotion to the post after completing 20 years of service, adding that it would lead to "severe stagnation in the cadre".
"This means that the majority of the doctors are limited to only one promotion, and it will lead to many taking a voluntary retirement from service due to the lack of promotional avenues," Khyalia said.
"In the entire country, there is no provision anywhere for direct entry at the SMO level," he added.
Meanwhile, an official statement said the Haryana government's health department had made elaborate arrangements to ensure smooth services amid the pen-down strike.
Instructions had been given to the civil surgeons and principal medical officers to keep the OPDs and all emergency services running so that patients do not face inconvenience.
The government had directed them that the services of all consultants and contract medical officers should also be utilised.
The statement said that approximately 400 doctors working under the national healthcare initiative had also been deployed for the OPD services.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
