Bhubaneswar: Agitating Odisha government doctors Thursday announced the suspension of their stir and assured the administration they would resume OPD services from Friday.
The decision was conveyed by a delegation of the Odisha Medical Service Association (OMSA) led by its president, Dr Kishore Mishra, after a meeting with Health and Family Welfare Minister Mukesh Mahaling.
“Discussion with the government was very cordial, and the minister has assured to fulfill our genuine demands. Therefore, in view of public interest, we have decided to suspend the agitation for now with hope that our problems will be addressed,” OMSA president Dr Mishra told reporters here.
He said OMSA members understand that the government requires some time to address the issues properly.
Mahaling said the members of the OMSA were apprised that the inter-departmental high-level committee had been examining their demands.
“The discussion was very cordial, and they have assured us to withdraw the agitation,” the minister said.
Over 6,000 doctors serving in different health facilities across the state had launched agitation for the fulfilment of their 10-point charter of demands since December 26, which included filling up of all the vacant posts, parity in pay with central government employees, proportional restructuring of cadres across all grades, additional financial incentives for super-specialists and performance-based incentives.
Though the doctors’ agitation started with a one-hour OPD boycott from December 26, they later extended it to two hours from 9 am to 11 am starting January 5.
Despite the state government invoking the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), doctors continued their two-hour OPD boycott agitation.
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