BHUBANESWAR: Doctors posted in public healthcare facilities in the state can now avail of compensatory offs. In a big relief, the Odisha government on Thursday allowed medical officers days in lieu of notified public holidays.
The medical officers of Odisha Medical and Health Services (OMHS) cadre working at district headquarters hospitals and other peripheral health institutions under the administrative control of chief district medical officers (CDMOs) are eligible for the alternative offs.
As per the guideline issued by the Health and Family Welfare department, an OMHS cadre doctor, who attends duty on designated public holidays notified by the state government will be allowed to avail equal number of alternative off days in the same month, subject to availability of adequate human resources at the health facility.
For the smooth functioning of the hospitals and to provide proper healthcare to the public, the superintendent/medical officer in charge of the facility will make a roster arrangement for that month to ensure that all working hours are adequately covered.
In case of inadequate availability of health personnel in any hospital, the superintendent/medical officer in charge can reduce the number of alternate off-days allowed to a doctor. However, the reduction in compensatory off-days will be done proportionately for all doctors eligible for the same for that month, the guideline stated.
In single-doctor medical institutions, the superintendent or BPHO of the CHC concerned will make arrangements to provide offs following the same principle taking into account the presence of AYUSH medical officers and pharmacists.
Health secretary Shalini Pandit has, however, clarified that the compensatory offs admissible in a month cannot be carried over to the succeeding month, except when the public holiday falls in the last week of a month.
She has asked the CDMOs, directors of Capital Hospital and Rourkela Government Hospital and superintendents of sub-division and CHCs to follow the guidelines scrupulously. “The new guideline supersedes the prevailing practice of availing weekly offs and the alternative offs cannot be merged with casual leave or earned leave,” she said.
Odisha Medical Services Association (OMSA) has welcomed it. Several states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu have already implemented compensatory leave for serving doctors and OMSA has been demanding it for a long time.
“Since health service is an emergency service, compensatory offs can be a great way for doctors, who usually find it difficult to relax and have family time due to workload, especially in periphery hospitals. Our long time demand has been fulfilled,” said OMSA president Dr Narayan Rout.