BHUBANESWAR: Even as the state government formed a panel to review the demands of Odisha Medical Services Association (OMSA), doctors continued to halt OPD works across the state for an hour every day seeking immediate fulfilment of their demands.
OMSA general secretary Sanjib Kumar Pradhan said the government is trying to delay the process by constituting the committee on the pretext of discussion. “We have been subjected to harassment for years together and the government is adopting a dilly-dallying attitude. We want our demands to be immediately fulfilled,” he said.
The government doctors have been demanding remuneration at 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 precondition.
They have also demanded proportionate cadre restructuring of all grades, incremental incentives for super specialists, specialists, diploma-holding administrators along with postmortem allowance and equal benefits to OMHS and OMES cadres, among others.
OMSA president Dr Kishore Chandra Misra, however, said no emergency services will be hit during the boycott of OPD service and there will be no doctor vs public conflict. “We will prioritise the patients’ urgency so that no serious case is kept waiting. But we will go for a complete shutdown if demands are not met soon,” he warned.
On Saturday, the state government had constituted an inter-departmental committee to look into various demands of OMSA and further strengthen the medical services in the state.
The panel headed by the additional chief secretary, General Administration and Public Grievance department will discuss various demands of OMSA, consider their various aspects and submit a report to the government. Other members of the committee are the principal secretary of Finance department, principal secretary of Law department, secretary of Health and Family Welfare department and director of Health Services. The secretary of Health and Family Welfare department will act as the member-convener of the committee.