With the State Government taking no visible measures to address their demands, junior doctors of the Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR), Burla on Tuesday treated people wearing black badges and threatened to resort to cease-work from April 1.
“If our demands are not met by the Government by March-end, we will go on a cease-work agitation. Now, we will work sporting black badges,” said VIMSAR Junior Doctors’ Association president Shankar Ramchandani.
“We experience no hint from the State Government to fulfill our nine point charter of demands for better service of the patients for which we had gone on cease work earlier. Except for shifting the female medicine ward, the Government has not done anything in the last three months. So we have decided to do our duty by wearing black badges till March 31. If the Government fails to meet our demands, we will go for cease work from April 1,” added Ramachandi.
He said the agitation would be extended to all hospitals across western Odisha.
Notably, on February 5, Health Secretary Arti Ahuja had informed that the Government would fulfill all the demands of the association in phases. She had also announced that an MRI machine, one of the nine demands of the JDA, would be installed at VIMSAR by March 31.
She had also promised 24-hour service in Regional Diagnostic Centre (RDC) in VIMSAR, uninterrupted power supply, tight security measures with installation of CCTV cameras to monitor anti-social activities inside the institute.
However, the JDA alleged that none of the assurances made by the Secretary was fulfilled till date.