Resentment is brewing among members of Odisha Medical Services Association (OSMA) for the State Government’s indifference towards their long-standing demands.
At a meeting held at the district headquarters hospital recently, they criticised the State Government for not implementing the transfer policy for doctors that was announced in the State Assembly in March 17, 2008.
A notification in this regard was released by the Health Department stating that the transfer policy would be implemented very soon. “But till date, it has not been implemented,” said OSMA district secretary Gopi Krishna Panda, adding that in the absence of a clear cut policy on transfer of doctors, fresh medical graduates are not willing to go for housemanship in rural areas.
He further alleged that the State Government’s decision of implementing Dynamic Assured Career Progression (DACP) scheme for the members of OMSA is yet to take place. For implementing this scheme, a ministerial sub-committee comprising Health, Finance and Law ministers was formed in 2010, but it did not yield any result.
The OMSA members urged the Government to implement DACP within three months. “We want the Chief Minister to hold meetings of the medical officers and doctors in charge of community health centres along with CDMOs once in every three months to know the difficulties faced by them,” said Madhusudan Mishra, former State president of the OMSA.
They said the only silver lining among all these difficulties is the Government decision to enhance the retirement age of doctors to 62.