Doctors on 3-hour strike, patients bear the brunt

Jalandhar/Phagwara

OPDs remained suspended for the first part of the day at all public health centres, including CHCs, subdivisional hospitals and district hospitals, in response to a call by the PCMS Association.

The Civil Hospital, Jalandhar and Phagwara also wore a deserted look in view of the strike.

Medical services in the Phagwara Civil Hospital came to a halt for three hours today as doctors, under the banner of the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA), staged a protest from 8 am to 11 am.

While emergency services were maintained, regular OPD services remained suspended, leaving patients to face inconvenience. The strike, led by prominent doctors, including Dr Ravi Kumar, Dr Darshan Badhan, Dr Gurinder Deep Singh Garewal and Dr Baljinder Singh, was part of a larger statewide protest.

The key demands of the doctors include timely promotion, the release of pending dues under the Sixth Pay Commission and improved security in healthcare facilities. The doctors expressed concerns over the increasing workload, citing that many government hospitals were operating at half of their required capacity, with over 2,800 out of 4,600 sanctioned doctor posts lying vacant across the state.

Addressing the media, Dr Baljinder Singh, a senior medical officer, explained that the strike was initially planned for an indefinite period but was scaled back after the Health Minister’s appeal and the scheduling of a meeting between the association and the state’s Finance Minister on September 11.

“We have diluted our protest, but if the meeting on September 11 fails to yield results, we will escalate to a full-scale strike, starting September 12,” he said. During the strike, doctors refrained from conducting routine medical check-ups, post-mortems, medico-legal cases and other non-essential duties.

However, emergency services and dengue-related testing continued uninterrupted.

The doctors are demanding parity with their counterparts in the medical education and research departments, where promotions are granted every four to seven years. They also highlighted the safety concerns, pointing out the rising incidents of violence against healthcare workers by patients’ families.

“The state health infrastructure is struggling under the weight of staffing shortages and doctors are left to manage VIP and emergency duties in addition to their regular responsibilities,” said Dr Ravi Kumar.

“If our demands are not met, the impact on healthcare delivery could be severe,” he said. Patients who arrived for routine check-ups and treatments were left frustrated by the strike with many being forced to return without receiving care. The government has so far remained non-committal and the situation remains tense as the doctors prepare for their next course of action, depending on the outcome of their negotiations with the state on September 11.