Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The government doctors are all set to go ahead with their proposed indefinite strike from Friday as their meeting with the minister for medical education Vishvas Sarang ended inconclusively. The key health services at government hospitals such as OPD, IPD, emergency, trauma will be affected following the doctors’ strike.
Sarang had invited doctors for talks, however, it failed to yield any positive results. A delegation of doctors led by president of MP Teachers’ Association Dr Rakesh Malviya had met the minister on Thursday, pressing their demands for pay revision and addressing discrepancies in promotion. The delegation was adamant on immediate resolution of the issues saying that assurance would not work this time. “Our meeting with the minister has failed so we will go ahead with the strike from February 17 suspending all emergency services. Doctors in all primary health centres, district hospitals and hospitals will remain on strike. Private doctors too have come out in our support,” said Malviya.
Their demands include uniform policy for recruitment, promotion, regularization and pay revision, revival of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) and the appointment of working doctors on administrative posts instead of bureaucrats. Earlier, they had carried out Yatra at 38 districts to harness support.
The doctors are also demanding the implementation of Dynamic Assured Career Progression (DACP) 2008 in Madhya Pradesh which was enacted by the Union Government back then. This policy has been opted for by 13 states so far.
Besides, in 13 medical colleges, 856 posts were lying vacant out of 2,814 sanctioned posts as per the data of the CM Review meeting on March 6, 2021. Jabalpur Medical College has the highest number of vacant posts at 96, followed by Chhindwara with 92 and Shahdol with 89. Bhopal’s GMC has the lowest- 37 vacant posts.
Protesting doctors perform havan at GMC
Earlier in the day, medical officers under the banner of MP Shaskiye/ Swasahi Chikitsa Mahasangh observed a two-hour strike in all the medical colleges in Madhya Pradesh on the day. The protesting doctors at Gandhi Medical College (GMC) went on strike. They also performed havan on the GMC premises.
