GUWAHATI: As many as 2,000 doctors in the state of Assam went on a strike on Tuesday, affecting the outpatient department (OPD) services on the first day of the eight-day long phased strike initiated by the Assam Medical Service Association (AMSA). The state branch of the Indian Medical Association supported the doctors affiliated to AMSA.

The OPD boycott call from 8 am to 11 am had a serious impact on healthcare services in government hospitals, which included district civil hospitals and sub-divisional hospitals. Later in the day, state health minister Keshab Mahanta met with a delegation of AMSA. Till the time this report was filed, the meeting conclusion was not known.

The major issues raised by AMSA included payment and promotion. The doctors said that they will intensify the protest if the government does not consider their demands. AMSA further stated that they did not ask the government for any special privilege for the services offered during the pandemic. There have been several rounds of talks with the government looking for a solution to the long-pending demands.

AMSA assistant general secretary, Dr Makhan Ch Saikia, said that the doctors did not receive promotions though the government had promised to do so, adding that they demand time scale promotion for all cadres of doctors. He mentioned that nearly 1,000 posts of doctors from junior to senior levels are currently vacant in the state, and asked for ramping up of the recruitment process. 

He further stated that even after serving as joint directors and sub-divisional medical officers for over 10 years, several senior doctors of the state are not being promoted. AMSA also asked for an honor able salary for the senior doctors having post-graduate (PG) degrees. Saikia said that some of the newly appointed PG doctors are being paid more than the senior doctors with the same qualifications. 

Besides this, AMSA sought increment for doctors doing PG under the Srimanta Sankaradeva University of Health Services.

Source: The Times of India