A day after Health Minister Pratap Jena on Thursday suspended an SDMO and four other doctors allegedly over dereliction of duties, the Odisha Medical Service Association (OMSA) on Friday strongly condemned the Government’s action.
The OMSA demanded immediate revocation of the suspension of the doctors. OMSA president Nirakar Bhatt said the association would hold its next meeting on December 4 to decide on the future course of action in this regard.
Notably, Minister Jena on Thursday during a surprise visit to Jagatsinghpur and Angul districts suspended the SDMO and four other doctors for negligence in implementing the Government’s Niramaya scheme.
The suspended doctors are Talcher SDMO Meena Kumar Dwari, Jagatsinghpur District Headquarters Hospital’s Dr Mamata Satpathy and Himanshu Shekhar Nanda, Kanakpur Primary Health Centre’s Sanjeev Kumar Mahapatra and Manijhanga PHC’s Medical Officer in-Charge Suresh Kumar lenka.
Niramaya, the Rs 200-crore free medicine distribution scheme, was launched by the State Government on May 1, 2015 with an aim to provide medicines to patients free of cost at all public hospitals, including DHHs.