Punjab Govt Doctors to go on indefinite strike from January 20 over unmet demands

PCMSA General Body
Meeting was held on 1st January 2025 to discuss these pressing issues, and it has been
unanimously decided to “resume” the call for suspension of services from 20th
January 2025 in the face of non-issuance of notifications on reinstatement of
DACPs in the exact form and manner in which it was before 01/07/2022 and the
security framework roll out.

The association also demanded
adequate security arrangements at all 24×7 centres of the State, in accordance
with the Supreme Court guidelines, for providing safe and conducive
environments to all healthcare workers, thereby ensuring optimum delivery of
healthcare services across the state. 

Talking to Medical
Dialogues, Dr Akhil Sarin, President of PCMS, stated, “Currently, after the
current round of recruitment, the deficiencies stand at around 54% for
Specialists and around 43% for MBBS MOs, thereby indicating an impending public
health crisis that the government is staring at in the near future. Previously,
DACP ensured an equivalent pay scale after serving for 4, 9, and 14 years considering
that there were very few promotion avenues that required 20 to 25 years of
service but it was temporarily stalled by the finance department in July 2021. However,
the facility is being offered to doctors in neighbouring Haryana and Delhi and
we deserve to have the same facility.”  

Last year, the association
suspended OPD services on September 9th, demanding safety measures, immediate
recruitment of 400 doctors, and implementation of the DACP scheme. After the active and
positive intervention of the Chief Minister Punjab, a series of one-to-one
meetings/talks were held between the DCs and SSPs of all the 23 Districts and
the respective District PCMSA heads on 13th September 2024, during which it was
unequivocally conveyed to PCMSA, that in line with H’ble Chief Minister’s
steadfast commitment towards safeguarding and strengthening the public
healthcare of the State, the demands have been unconditionally accepted by the Government and that
the needful will be done within the stipulated time frame as committed to by
the Cabinet Subcommittee in the meeting held at Punjab Bhawan on 11/09/2024.

Following these meetings,
a detailed meeting was held at Punjab Bhawan on 14th September 2024 between the
H’ble Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh, ASHFW Sh. Kumar Rahul, Principal
Secretary Finance Sh.Ajoy Kumar Sinha and all 23 District PCMSA heads, in which
it was strongly reiterated that health being the priority state subject of the
current government, as directed to by the Hon’ble Chief Minister Punjab, the
requisite budgetary allocations will be made promptly for the roll out a
comprehensive security framework within one week and reinstatement of DACPs for
PCMS cadre within 12 weeks in the exact form and the manner in which it was
applicable before 01/07/2021.

In the joint press
conference held immediately after the above meeting at Punjab Bhawan on
14/09/2024, the above commitments were officially announced by the Hon’ble Health
Minister and it was strongly reiterated and unambiguously conveyed to PCMSA
that the assurances/commitments will be implemented within the
stipulated time frame (One week for the security arrangements and 12 weeks for
DACP reinstatement). Consequently,
acknowledging the stand of the government, PCMSA had “suspended” its call
for suspension of services, reposing faith in the commitment made by the Hon’ble
Chief Minister, Hon’ble Health Minister, and the Cabinet Sub-committee headed by
the Hon’ble Finance Minister.

In a press release, the
association stated, “PCMSA is fully aware of the fact that the Health
Department led by H’ble Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh, Principal Secretary
Health & Family Welfare Sh. Kumar Rahul and DHS Punjab Dr Hitinder Kaur
have been persistently and relentlessly following up on these issues, with the
Department of Finance full of vigour and intent, and have been intensely
engaged in preparing and discussing the budget estimates for the same at war
footing. In fact, the response received from the health department officials on all
the abovementioned core issues has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive.”

However, even after the
lapse of 16 weeks, their efforts could not bear fruits as the notifications
regarding the reinstatement of DACPs and the security framework rollout are still
awaited with much eagerness and optimism. The doctors also revealed that in the recent round of recruitments of Medical Officers
held after a hiatus of nearly four years, around 30% of the selected doctors
have not joined the service, thereby compounding the long-standing nemesis of
low entry and high attrition/low retention rates of Medical Officers, primarily
borne out stalled career progressions and unsafe work environment amongst other
factors. Notably, in the last walk-in interviews for specialists held in
November 2022, only a small fraction of the total advertised posts were filled
in.

With the senior most batch of specialists
(currently the 2009 batch, as all the batches before them have already been
promoted to the rank of SMOs and above) set to complete their bond period from
this year onwards (The first batch left for PG courses in 2012 and joined back
as specialists in 2015), the imminent threat of resignations that may follow is
highly concerning. It is extremely worrying that even after
positively acknowledging these issues during the serial meetings held last year
and issuing written as well as official public commitments, these core issues
are still left unaddressed due to inadvertent procedural delays in their
implementation, pointed out the doctors.

The association further
added, “It is extremely unfortunate the only cadre of class-1 officers actually
engaged in the on-ground 24×7 high-risk duties, even in the remotest rural
areas, has to dig in its heels to safeguard the public health cadre of the
State and repeatedly push the government to address the core issues plaguing
the public healthcare of the State.”

“Being a pro-people
organization, PCMSA feels immense pain and agony in being “forced” to take such
stands. However, we strongly believe that in the long run, PCMSA will be
remembered for its relentless struggle to save the public healthcare of this
State from an imminent collapse,” it stated. While requesting the
government to showcase a strong political will in line with its overall
commitment towards robust public healthcare, the association stated, that the
government should “walk the talk and fulfill its commitment within the
stipulated timeframe, thereby ensuring seamless healthcare delivery services to
the people of the State in general and in instilling a sense of trust and
confidence in the PCMS cadre in particular.”