Doctors in government hospitals hold two-hour pen-down strike, OPD services remain shut

Doctors in government hospitals under the banner of the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA) on Thursday observed a two-hour pen-down strike and kept OPD services closed from 9am to 11am to press their long-pending demands. The strike was earlier planned for Tuesday, but was postponed due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Kurukshetra.

The association is demanding an immediate halt to the direct recruitment of Senior Medical Officers (SMOs) and the issuance of the modified Assured Career Progression (ACP) structure, which has been approved by the Chief Minister but is still pending with the Finance Department.

“All OPD services, except emergency, labour room and operations, remained suspended for two hours,” said Dr. Deepak Goyal, state treasurer of HCMSA.

Due to the strike, patients arriving at government hospitals across the district experienced significant inconvenience.

Raghbir Singh from Uchana said, “We are facing a lot of difficulty. We had no information about the strike.” Omprakash from Jhinjhari, who had been waiting since morning, said, “We have been standing in line since 9:15 am. Had we known about the strike, we wouldn’t have come. Doctors should not go on strike.”

Dr Goyal said that the government’s move to directly recruit SMOs is unacceptable, pointing out that no such recruitment has been done since 2012.

“On June 3, 2021, then Health Minister Anil Vij had ordered that no direct recruitment of SMOs would be done and that existing doctors should be promoted instead. Now, the government is again planning direct recruitment, which we strongly oppose,” he added.

The association also expressed concern over the delay in the revised ACP structure that would upgrade their pay scale from Rs 8,700 to Rs 9,500, bringing them on par with doctors in medical colleges.