The Haryana government on Tuesday invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act after the Outdoor Patient Department services across the State were crippled due to a day-long strike by the doctors in support of their demands.
A large number of doctors went on the strike boycotting the OPD services under the banner of the Haryana Civil Medical Services’ Association (HCMSA).
Three major demands
The Association is seeking three major demands: stop direct recruitment for Senior Medical Officers (SMOs), fix 40% quota for in-service doctors for admission to post-graduation courses and create a specialist cadre of doctors.
The emergency services, such as post-mortem and COVID-19 duties, were not affected as already announced by the Association.
Announcing the decision to invoke ESMA, Health Minister Anil Vij, in a tweet, said: “ESMA has been invoked in Haryana. Now health workers cannot proceed on strike for six months. The step was taken after a group of doctors decided to go on strike and create hurdles in the prevention of COVID-19.”
Mr. Vij told media persons that the government had “in-principle” agreed to the demands of the doctors and it was conveyed to them on Monday, but they still decided to go ahead with their plan to hold the strike.
Fight against COVID-19
He said a force seemed to be behind them to disrupt the fight against COVID-19 in the State.
HCMSA vice-president and Gurugram Deputy Chief Medical Officer M.P. Singh told The Hindu that their demands had gone unheeded for long and they were forced to hold the strike.
Mr. Singh said doctors would proceed on an indefinite strike from January 14 if the government failed to come up with a concrete offer.
“The direct recruitment for SMOs puts the in-service doctors at disadvantage and limits their career growth. Similarly, the in-service doctors should be given a fixed 40% quota in PG courses to provide them a level playing field. Also, creation of a specialist cadre would ensure that the doctors are not diverted to other duties,” he said.
The civil hospitals and the community healthcare centres in the State witnessed long queues of distraught patients all through the day with the OPD services not running.
