Bhubaneswar: Members of Odisha Medical Service Association (OMSA) have threatened to halt outpatient department (OPD) services and works related to National Health Mission (NHM) for at least one hour a day starting December 26, over the state government’s failure to address their long-standing grievances.
According to the association, the government has failed to implement essential reforms needed to strengthen the state’s healthcare system though more than a year has passed since submitting a comprehensive list of demands to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Health Minister Mukesh Mahaling.
The key demands include remuneration on par with the central government pay scale with abolition of level-15 as followed for other class-I officers of the Odisha government without any preconditions, and restructuring cadres proportionally across all levels, besides incremental incentives for super-specialists, specialists, and diploma-qualified administrators, along with postmortem allowances and equitable performance-based incentives for both Odisha Medical and Health Services (OMHS) and Odisha Medical Education Service (OMES) cadres.
The doctors are also demanding introduction of an exit policy for those who have served more than three years in challenging areas like Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput (KBK) and KBK-plus regions, and tribal sub-plan areas.
They are also pushing for regular yearly recruitment of doctors, and timely promotion as well as revision of the Odisha Medicare Service Act of 2008 and inclusion of non-bailable warrants for assaults on medical staff and the deployment of 24-hour armed security with police outposts at all public health facilities.
The doctors also demanded regularisation of adhoc doctors and inclusion of the ad hoc and contractual period in the regular service and health insurance for all healthcare personnel.
The Association members added they will intensify their protest in the near future and may even go for mass resignation if needed.
