GUWAHATI: On the first day of an eight-day phased strike on Tuesday, around 2,000 doctors across the state disrupted outpatient department (OPD) services. Assam Medical Service Association (AMSA). Doctors affiliated with AMSA get support from state branch Indian Medical Association.
Health services in government hospitals including district civil hospitals and sub-divisional hospitals were severely affected by the call for OPD boycott given by AMSA from 8 am to 11 am. Later in the evening the State Health Minister Keshab Mahant A meeting was convened with a delegation of AMSA. Until this report was filed, the outcome of the meeting was not known.
Payment and promotion were the major issues raised by the AMSA, even as doctors threatened to intensify their agitation if the government did not pay heed to their demands. AMSA said that they did not ask for any special privileges from the government for the tireless service rendered during the pandemic. Several rounds of talks were held with the government to find a solution to their long pending demands.
“The doctors were not promoted, though the government had promised to do so several times. We want timely promotions for all cadres of doctors,” said AMSA’s assistant general secretary. Dr. Makhan Ch Saikia. He lamented that there are about one thousand vacant posts of doctors from junior to senior level in the state. Saikia said, “The recruitment process of doctors should be expedited.”
He lamented that many senior doctors of the state were not being promoted even after serving for more than 10 years in the posts of Joint Director and Sub-Divisional Medical Officers.
In addition, AMSA demanded a respectable salary for senior doctors with postgraduate (PG) degrees. Saikia said, “Some newly appointed PG doctors are getting higher salaries than senior doctors who were earlier appointed with equal qualifications. This is yet another injustice in the health system.”
Among other demands, AMSA demanded pay hike for doctors pursuing PG under Srimanta Sankardev Health Services University.
Health services in government hospitals including district civil hospitals and sub-divisional hospitals were severely affected by the call for OPD boycott given by AMSA from 8 am to 11 am. Later in the evening the State Health Minister Keshab Mahant A meeting was convened with a delegation of AMSA. Until this report was filed, the outcome of the meeting was not known.
Payment and promotion were the major issues raised by the AMSA, even as doctors threatened to intensify their agitation if the government did not pay heed to their demands. AMSA said that they did not ask for any special privileges from the government for the tireless service rendered during the pandemic. Several rounds of talks were held with the government to find a solution to their long pending demands.
“The doctors were not promoted, though the government had promised to do so several times. We want timely promotions for all cadres of doctors,” said AMSA’s assistant general secretary. Dr. Makhan Ch Saikia. He lamented that there are about one thousand vacant posts of doctors from junior to senior level in the state. Saikia said, “The recruitment process of doctors should be expedited.”
He lamented that many senior doctors of the state were not being promoted even after serving for more than 10 years in the posts of Joint Director and Sub-Divisional Medical Officers.
In addition, AMSA demanded a respectable salary for senior doctors with postgraduate (PG) degrees. Saikia said, “Some newly appointed PG doctors are getting higher salaries than senior doctors who were earlier appointed with equal qualifications. This is yet another injustice in the health system.”
Among other demands, AMSA demanded pay hike for doctors pursuing PG under Srimanta Sankardev Health Services University.
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