The Haryana government on Tuesday evening invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), prohibiting any strike by government doctors for six months even as the state health department implemented ‘no work, no pay’ policy. Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA) , meanwhile, resolved they will enforce a complete shutdown of medical services for an indefinite period, until their “legitimate demands are met or a mutual consensus is achieved through dialogue with the government”.
On a call from the HCMSA, the government doctors on Monday had proceeded on a two-day strike in protest against the non-fulfilment of their demands, including a halt in the direct recruitment of senior medical officers. As a result, healthcare services at state-run hospitals were affected.
Even as 88 out of the 218 doctors in Gurgaon observed a strike for the second day on Tuesday, health department officials said that services remained unaffected.
Stating that 130 doctors were on duty, civil surgeon and chief medical officer Dr Alka Singh told The Indian Express: “We had roped in doctors from the National Health Mission. Even surgeries continued normally. Yesterday there were five elective surgeries, today there were four — two elective and two general.”
Dr Singh added that departments like OPD functioned smoothly, and 12 postmortem examinations were also conducted.
However, the crowd was thinner than usual at the civil hospital in Basai in Gurgaon Sector 10, barring the gynaecology ward. The hospital usually sees 2,000 patients each day.
“Yesterday, there were more than twice as many people,” a staffer said on condition of anonymity.
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“I came to know about the strike yesterday, but had to follow up on a blood test report and that happened smoothly,” a patient said on Tuesday.
After the HCMSA called for a complete shutdown of government health services across the state on Monday, the district administrations in Nuh, Gurgaon and Faridabad had imposed strict prohibitory orders to prevent any disruption to emergency care.
Gurgaon District Magistrate Ajay Kumar had imposed restrictions under Section 163 of BNSS, banning gatherings of five or more persons within 200 m of civil hospitals, sub-divisional hospitals, polyclinics and health centres on Monday and Tuesday.
The order, effective until the strike concludes, cited apprehensions that the action could obstruct essential health services, disrupt public peace and cause public inconvenience.
