Following the assurance given by the Director General (DG) State medical health and family welfare department, the agitating specialist doctors of the State Health Services have taken back their work boycott stir. These 113 doctors would resume their work after two days of work boycott on Wednesday.
A delegation of the Provincial Medical Health Services (PMHS) met the DG health services, Dr T C Pant on Tuesday at the health directorate and discussed issue of the eligibility of the Post-Graduate ( PG) diploma courses of specialist doctors. Later on the assurance of the DG, the association took back the agitation. The president of the PMHS, Dr D P Joshi said that the association has suspended the agitation till the end of the ensuing monsoon session of Vidhan Sabha. He added that the PMHS is very serious on the issue as it is related to the future of the doctors.
Meanwhile, the work boycott of the specialist doctors affected the health services in the state for second consecutive day on Tuesday. In many hospitals, the operations remained suspended in the absence of surgeons and anaesthetists. The radio-diagnostic facilities like X -ray and ultra sound also remained affected as radiologists boycotted their work. In Dehradun, patients faced problems in the Coronation and Gandhi Centenary Eye Hospitals.
The Issue
As part of the state health department endeavour to provide super speciality training to the doctors of health department, 113 doctors had done diploma courses in the medical colleges of Uttar Pradesh over the past few years. It was later realised that the health department of UP had admitted these doctors in such courses which were not recognised by the Medical Council of India (MCI). Unaware of the eligibility issue, the health department had promoted these doctors and deployed them as specialists in various hospitals of the state. Only recently it became apparent that these doctors are now technically not eligible to be called as specialists.
In such a tricky situation, these doctors are facing prospects of demotion and reduction in salary.
PMHS, the association of doctors of state health services, argues that since the doctors were sent by the health department for the diploma courses in medical colleges of UP, it should now take up their case with the ministry of medical health and family planning and the Medical Council of India (MCI).