Bhubaneswar: Doctors appointed by the state government have decided to stop working on public holidays from October 28. In a letter to the Health secretary, Odisha Medical Services Association (OMSA) Secretary Punyashloka Das said that since the Association at its central executive committee meeting September 2 and general council committee meeting September 30 has decided that the government doctors would not work on public holidays, and that the government should make alternative arrangements for treatment of patients on these days.
Das also said that the Sixth Pay Commission had recommended implementation of the Dynamic Assured Career Progression (DACP) scheme for government doctors in all the states. Although 15 states have implemented the scheme, it has not been implemented in Odisha.
“The Chief Minister had constituted a ministerial committee comprising ministers of Health and Family Welfare and Finance and Law in 2010 for implementation of the DACP scheme in Odisha. But the committee has not held a single meeting in the last eight years and the government has framed new cadre rules for doctors without the knowledge of OMSA,” Das said in his letter.
He said OMSA doctors have strongly opposed the new cadre rules in which the government has divided the doctors into three categories.
“Apart from this, the government has neither fixed the duty hours of doctors nor taken steps to provide them security,” he pointed out.
