Haryana Govt practioners wear black badges, protest staff crunch

Chandigarh, July 1

Government doctors across the state wore black badges on the Doctors’ Day i.e July 1 to protest against the government’s “insensitive and callous” attitude towards their several demands. The Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA) today observed the day as a black day.

One of the major demands put forth by them is the reduction of the postgraduate (PG) bond amount. Currently, a doctor has to provide two sureties of Rs 1 crore each. “We were assured that the bond amount would be reduced to Rs 50 lakh. However, even after six months, the matter is stuck in red tape,” said HCMSA president Dr Rajesh Khyalia.

Out of 3,900 posts of Medical Officer (MO), 1,100 (over 28 per cent) are vacant. In addition, out of 636 posts of Senior Medical Officer (SMO), 250 (close to 40 per cent) are vacant, and out of eight posts of Director, five are vacant. “There is an acute shortage of specialists in the state’s government hospitals,” Dr Khyalia added.

The members said the file regarding the routine promotion of the doctors from MOs to SMOs has been delayed for long, with doctors who joined as MOs in 2002 still awaiting their promotion. “It is truly pathetic that even doctors, who are Class 1 officers, are struggling to get promotion on routine basis,” he added.