Govt doctors in Hisar observe strike, threaten bigger shutdown

Government doctors today held a two- hour pen-down strike here and warned of a statewide shutdown if the Haryana government did not address their long-standing demands of higher allowances and other issues.
"The strike from 8-10 am saw the participation of all the 112 doctors in the district," claimed Arun Nanda, secretary of the district unit of the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA).
The HCMSA alleged the government was not willing to look into its demands in spite of two rounds of talks with the authorities.
The doctors claimed their demands like special package for specialists and allowances on a par with central government doctors had been accepted by the state government at a meeting on September 16 last year, but no notification had been issued by the government till today.

They warned if the government failed to accept their demands, the doctors would shut down OPD (out-patient department) services on September 13, and completely halt health services, including emergency services and post-mortem in the state, from September 14.
On the imposition of the Haryana Essential Services Maintenance Act, Nanda said the government was doing its duty while the doctors were doing theirs.
Yesterday, the Haryana government banned strikes by doctors working in the health department for a period of six months.