Haryana govt doctors go on two-day statewide strike

On the call of the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA), government doctors across the state went on a two-day strike starting Monday to press their demands, including a halt to the direct recruitment of Senior Medical Officers (SMOs) and issuance of a notification for the already approved Modified Assured Career Progression (ACP) structure. The strike affected healthcare services across the district, including OPDs, emergency care and operations.

To manage the situation in Karnal, the health authorities deployed consultants, directly recruited specialists and doctors from Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College (KCGMC). However, their numbers were insufficient to handle the patient load. Around 1,500 patients visit the Karnal District Civil Hospital every day.

The doctors had earlier held a meeting with Health Minister Arti Singh Rao, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Sudhir Rajpal and other senior officials on December 3. This was followed by another meeting on December 5 with Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi, Chief Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Rajesh Khullar, Sudhir Rajpal and Director General Health Dr Manish Bansal. While their demand to stop the direct recruitment of SMOs was accepted, the request for implementation of the modified ACP structure was not fulfilled. Despite this, the doctors decided to go ahead with the strike.

Meanwhile, the directly recruited specialists announced they would not participate in the strike and continued working.

“We are not in favour of strike, but we have been forced to take this step. We have taken two days of mass leave,” said Dr Sanjay Verma, district president of the HCMSA.

He maintained that both demands had been accepted by the Chief Minister last year but were never notified.

“We will go on an indefinite strike from December 10 if our demands are not met within two days,” Verma added.

Patients suffered due to the strike. Long queues were seen outside OPDs and the registration counter. Some patients wanted to consult their regular doctors they had been following for treatment.

“I came to the Civil Hospital to get checked by the doctor whose treatment I have been following, but now I have to go to another doctor. The number of patients is high, and I had to wait for a couple of hours for my turn,” said Angrej, a patient.

However, Civil Surgeon Dr Poonam Chaudhary claimed that the strike had not had any major impact on healthcare services.

“We have appointed consultants, directly recruited specialists, and doctors from KCGMC to ensure smooth functioning. No major disruption has been reported so far,” she said.