Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government Tuesday invoked the Essential Services (Maintenance) Act, 1988, prohibiting strikes by doctors and other healthcare staff, as agitating doctors carried on with their boycott of outpatient department (OPD) services across state-run health facilities.
Under the order, strikes in the form of cessation of work by doctors, nursing officers, pharmacists, paramedics, technicians and Class III and IV employees, including contractual staff, engaged in government hospitals and dispensaries have been banned for six months with effect from Tuesday, an official notification said.
Doctors in government hospitals and health centres have been boycotting OPD services since December 26, initially for one hour a day, which was extended to two hours from 9 am to 11 am starting January 5. Emergency services, inpatient care and surgeries, however, have continued uninterrupted.
The agitation, under the banner of the Odisha Medical Service Association (OMSA), has been ongoing since November over a 10-point charter of demands, including filling up of vacant posts. The doctors had earlier protested by wearing black badges before resorting to the OPD boycott.
The state government invoked ESMA after the OMSA rejected an appeal by Health and Family Welfare Minister Mukesh Mahaling to resume duties, with an assurance that the demands would be considered sympathetically. The government has also constituted an inter-departmental committee to examine the issues raised by the doctors.
The OMSA, however, rejected the government’s appeal and committee proposal, insisting on a written assurance for the fulfilment of their demands.
According to the organisation, the state has a little over 6,000 government doctors against a sanctioned strength of 15,776, leaving more than 50 per cent of posts vacant.
“This is putting additional pressure on the existing doctors,” the OMSA said.
Their other demands include parity in pay with central government employees, proportional restructuring of cadres across all grades, additional financial incentives for super-specialists, specialists and diploma medical administrators, postmortem allowance, and performance-based incentives.
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