Defying Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), doctors at Government health care institutions on Monday observed a two-hour pen-down strike in various parts of Haryana.
The strike was observed from 8-10 am. There were reports of disruption in health care services at Fatehabad, Rohtak and other districts due to the strike.
All the Government doctors observed two-hour pen-down strike across the State, but emergency services were not affected, claimed Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA) president Dr Jasbir Singh Parmar.
He said Principal Secretary, Health Amit Jha had invited the doctors for talks on Tuesday.
If the State Government failed to address our problems, OPD services would be shut down on September 13, said he.
State Health Minister Anil Vij, however, said the demands of the doctors were “unjustified” and they would not be allowed to paralyse essential services. Action would be taken action those going on strike defying Government orders, Vij said.
The doctors under the banner of Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA) had announced to observe two-hour pen-down strike on September 11, close OPD services on September 13 and a complete shutdown of the health services, including emergency and post-mortem, from September 14, if their genuine demands were not met.
A day before, Haryana Government had imposed ESMA prohibiting any strike by the doctors working in the Health Department in public interest, for a period of six months effective from September 10 onwards.
Alleging that the State Government kept changing its stance towards demands of the doctors, the HCMSA had claimed that the Government was not willing to look into its demands in spite of two rounds of talks earlier.
Their demands include special package for specialists, allowances on a par with Central Government doctors, dynamic ACP structure with change in designation among others.