Strike ends as doctors, Haryana govt seal deal on Ayushman incentive

Doctors called off their strike on Thursday night after Health Minister Arti Singh Rao and representatives of the Haryana Civil Medical Services (HCMS) Association reached an agreement following multiple rounds of talks.

The breakthrough came after doctors agreed to opt for the Ayushman incentive in place of the modified Assured Career Progression (ACP) scheme, which had been the main point of contention.

It was agreed that amendments to service rules — particularly the proposal to stop direct recruitment of Senior Medical Officers (SMOs) — would be implemented only after examining provisions followed by other states “within a reasonable period.”

HCMS Association president Dr Rajesh Khyalia said, “The contours of the Ayushman incentive scheme shall be proposed by a committee that shall also include one member of the doctors' association. The committee will examine incentive schemes of other state governments and guidelines issued by the National Health Authority (NHA) on the same format and will submit its proposal within a month for the decision and implementation by the Haryana Government at its earliest.”

Doctors also raised concerns about newly appointed medical officers being posted in district hospitals, which could delay their eligibility for ACP. It was agreed that no medical officer would be denied 1st ACP benefits due to posting in an urban facility if the government itself did not send them to rural areas.

On the treatment of the strike period, it was decided that the days of absence would be treated as leave of the kind due, with the Association assuring the government that health services would not be disrupted again.

Doctors had earlier gone on mass casual leave on December 8 and 9, and launched a full strike from December 10.

Declaring the end of the protest, Dr Khyalia said doctors would resume duty soon. He reiterated that the core disagreement was over the modified ACP.

He said, “The main tussle was over modified ACP while the government was maintaining that if implemented doctors would start getting more than HCS officers.”