Bhubaneswar: With doctors across Odisha resorting to two-hour OPD boycott every day, the state government on Tuesday invoked the Odisha Essential Services (Maintenance) Act, 1988 (ESMA) to prohibit strikes by medical staff for six months.
The order, issued by the Home (Special Section) Department, prohibits strikes by doctors, nurses, pharmacists, paramedics, technicians, Class-III and Class-IV employees, and contractual staff across all government and grant-in-aid health institutions in the state.
The order bans any form of cessation of work in medical services for a period of six months, effective immediately from January 6, 2026.
The prohibition covers District Headquarters Hospitals, Sub-Divisional Hospitals, Area Hospitals, Community Health Centres, Primary Health Centres, municipal hospitals, medical colleges, autonomous institutions like Acharya Harihar Post Graduate Institute of Cancer (AHRCC), Regional Spinal Injury Centre, as well as jail and police hospitals.
The government in its order stated that the measure is necessary “in the interest of the public” to prevent disruption of the healthcare delivery system in the state.
The order has been sent for immediate publication in an extraordinary issue of the Odisha Gazette and circulated to the Health & Family Welfare Department, police authorities, district magistrates, and other concerned officials for strict implementation.
The move comes amid stepped up agitation by members of Odisha Medical Services Association (OSMA) over unfulfilled demands, even after the government constituted a high-level committee to look into the issues raised by them.
