Haryana govt medics threaten to start agitation from July 1

HCMSA general secretary, Dr Anil Yadav on Tuesday said a meeting of the state level core committee was held on June 16 to discuss the status of their demands

Government doctors in Haryana have threatened to start agitation from July 1 if the state government fails to resolve the issues raised by Haryana civil medical services association (HCMSA), an umbrella organisation of government medics in the state.

The association said that doctors are struggling to get even basic issues like promotion, probation clearance, assured career progression, early disposal of charge sheet cases resolved leading to immense harassment, humiliation and exploitation. (HT File)

HCMSA general secretary, Dr Anil Yadav on Tuesday said a meeting of the state level core committee was held on June 16 to discuss the status of their demands.

“There was a great sense of resentment among HCMSA members as the government has not fulfilled the promises made in meeting held with director general health services (DGHS) in December 29,2023. The association had postponed its agitation on the basis of assurance given by the DGHS. Subsequently, a meeting was held with the health minister on January 29, 2024, to fulfil the demands in a time bound manner. Unfortunately, even after five months these demands have not been fulfilled. The members have expressed their displeasure and consider it as a breach of trust,’’ Dr Yadav said in a statement.

“There was a huge shortage of specialists in Haryana and the association has been requesting the state government to take concrete steps to get specialists in the cadre. The association said the doctors have to submit two bonds of a crore each for pursuing in-service post graduate courses. This bond amount is very high and is difficult to arrange. Therefore, the association has demanded that the bond amount as per previous policy be restored. It was mutually agreed to reduce the bond amount. The proposal of submitting ₹50 lakh as surety and ₹ ₹50 lakh through post-dated cheque is in the process but there is undue delay in notification,’’ the statement said.

Association president Dr Rajesh Khyalia said there is a huge stagnation in the cadre as there are very less promotional avenues. “Around 95% of cadre only gets one promotion from medical officer to senior medical officer throughout their entire service. It was mutually agreed in the January 29 meeting that there will not be any direct recruitment at senior medical officer level in the future and service rules will be amended accordingly. But unfortunately, the proposal regarding this have not been initiated by the DGHS office yet. On the contrary authorities are still considering to recruit direct senior medical officers for the reasons best known to them,” Dr Khyalia said.

He further said that it was decided in the January 29 meeting that doctors must be given assured career progression or allowances at par with central government doctors. However, no proposal have been initiated by the DGHS office in this regard.

The association said that doctors are struggling to get even basic issues like promotion, probation clearance, assured career progression, early disposal of charge sheet cases resolved leading to immense harassment, humiliation and exploitation. “The HCMSA is having a meeting with additional chief secretary, health on June 21 to discuss these issues. As health sector is an important issue, the state government must take concrete steps to resolve these issues at the earliest to retain doctors in the cadre and provide them with conducive working environment. In case, there is no satisfactory and time progress regarding our demands, then we will be forced to adopt the path of agitation from July 1 onwards,’’ the HCMSA general secretary said.