Odisha Invokes ESMA To Prohibit Strikes By Nurses, Paramedics & Others For 6 Months

Bhubaneswar: To ensure medical services are not disrupted amid the ongoing protest over rape-murder of Kolkata doctor, the Odisha government has invoked the Essential Services Maintenance (ESMA) Act prohibiting strikes by class-III and class-IV employees in the health sector.

The order will remain in force for a period of six months, a notification issued by the Home (Special Section) department said.

Sources said ESMA was invoked after the Odisha Nursing Employees Association threatened to go for cease-work agitation from August 27. They have been wearing black badges to press on their 10-point charter of demands and planning token strike without affecting patient care by holding a rally in Bhubaneswar on August 23.

“In the interest of Public, it is necessary to prohibit strikes in the form of cessation of work by nurses, pharmacists, paramedics, technicians and other class-III and class-IV employees in government hospitals and dispensaries in the state,” the notification read.

It also applies to contractual employees in services/engagements connected with the maintenance of medical services in district headquarters hospitals, sub-divisional hospitals, area hospitals, CHCs, PHCs, municipality hospitals and ESI hospitals. This apart, staff working in the medical colleges and hospitals run by the government and other autonomous health institutions receiving grant-in-aid from the state government, specifically Acharya Harihar Post Graduate Institute of Cancer, Regional Spinal Injury Centre, jail hospitals and police hospitals will also be covered under the provisions of the Act.