Doctors to go on strike on Monday

Patients will feel the heat as the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA) has decided to go on an indefinite strike starting tomorrow.

Dr Akhil Sareen, PCMSA state president, said it was originally decided the association would give the call of total OPD closure from September 9-14. However, in view of the persistent insistence of the state government for moderation for a few days so that talks could take place, the association decided to organise the strike in a phased-manner, he added. Phase one will be from September 9-11, phase two from September 12-15 and phase 3 from September 16.

During phase one, OPD services will remain suspended for the first half (8am to 11am), there will be no elective surgeries, only caesarean sections (both elective and emergency) and lifesaving surgeries such as Emergency trauma cases will be performed.

Doctors have decided to boycott driving licence, arms licence, general medical and recruitment-related medical examinations, and UDID work, VIP/VVIP duties, dope tests, reporting (only dengue cases will be reported), meetings, inquiries and Kaya Kalp assessments.

The unresolved issues of the doctors include, stalled assured career progressions, pending Sixth CPC arrears and security at workplace, among other demands.

It should be mentioned the government health institutes in the state are understaffed. Besides treating patients, doctors are burdened with other works like VIP and emergency duties, and postmortems and medico-legal cases. There are 4,600 sanctioned posts of doctors in the state of which 2800 are lying vacant.