Bhubaneswar: Government doctors, affiliated with the Odisha Medical Services Association (OMSA), suspended their indefinite cease-work agitation on Saturday following a meeting with Health and Family Welfare Minister Mukesh Mahaling, which lasted for over 3 hours.
In a statement, OMSA announced that the strike has been called off with immediate effect. All affiliated doctors have been directed to resume duties to prevent further disruption to healthcare services across the state. “We have decided to call off our indefinite strike following a meeting with the Health Minister. As per a decision taken at the meeting, the state government will form a high-level committee to look into our demands,” the association said.
A follow-up meeting between the two sides is scheduled for July 22 for continued discussions.
The OMSA had launched the protest on July 1, coinciding with National Doctors’ Day, to press for their long-pending 10-point charter of demands, including cadre restructuring of medical and dental services (to align with other state services like OMES and OAS), implementation of the Dynamic Assured Career Progression (DACP) scheme at par with central norms, special and place-based incentives, postmortem allowances, transparent transfer policies, enhanced security measures, health insurance for personnel, and regularisation of ad-hoc doctors.
The agitation severely impacted outpatient departments (OPDs), emergency services, and routine care in many Community Health Centres (CHCs), District Headquarters Hospitals (DHHs), and other facilities, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas. Several districts reported deserted hospital corridors, with patients, including the elderly and children, waiting for hours or returning untreated.
On Friday, the Health and Family Welfare Department issued a formal invitation to OMSA leaders for discussions at 11:30 am, urging them to restore normalcy. OMSA president Dr. Kishore Mishra had expressed willingness for dialogue while holding the government responsible for any adverse outcomes, including patient hardships.
Tragic Impact on Families
The strike led to heart-wrenching incidents. In Kandhamal district’s G Udayagiri block, the family of 60-year-old Pusara Pradhan of Nedinaju village under Gadaguda gram panchayat had to transport his body nearly 60 km for postmortem after he drowned in a pond on Wednesday. He was declared dead at the local CHC, but no postmortem could be conducted there due to the absence of doctors. The family kept the body overnight and arranged transport to Phulbani DHH the next morning amid rain, incurring additional hardship and expenses.
A pregnant woman from Nuapada district died after allegedly being denied emergency post-delivery care at a government hospital. Gitanjali Kharsel went into labor and gave birth en route to the Khariar Sub-Divisional Hospital. Her family claims hospital staff refused to treat her due to an ongoing doctors’ strike. As her condition deteriorated, her family attempted to transfer her to a hospital in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, but she died on the way.
Similarly, the family of an 18-year-old landslide victim were unable to perform his last rites, as his postmortem was delayed for over two days. On Wednesday, Krish Katshav died and another minor was injured when heavy rains triggered a soil collapse at an unauthorised manganese mine in a forest area in Sundargarh district. After Katshav was declared dead at a hospital in Joda, his body was moved to Barbil hospital for postmortem However, due to the ceasework agitation, the autopsy could not be performed. The body was transferred to the Keonjhar district headquarters hospital on Friday morning to finally conduct the examination.
Similar disruptions were reported in districts like Nabarangpur, Koraput, and Kalahandi, where referral hospitals saw major setbacks. In some areas like Angul, services were less affected.
The development is expected to bring relief to patients and restore regular healthcare operations in government facilities statewide.
