Assam: 2,000 doctors go on strike, OPD services crippled

GUWAHATI: About 2,000 doctors in the state on Tuesday went on a strike paralyzing the outpatient department (OPD) services on the first day of the eight-day phase-wise strike called by the Assam Medical Service Association (AMSA). Doctors affiliated to AMSA received support from the state branch of the Indian Medical Association.
The OPD boycott call given by AMSA from 8 am to 11 am severely affected healthcare services in government hospitals, including district civil hospitals and sub-divisional hospitals. Later in the evening, state health minister Keshab Mahanta convened a meeting with a delegation of AMSA. Till this report was filed, the outcome of the meeting was not known.
Payment and promotion were the key issues raised by AMSA even as doctors threatened to intensify their agitation if the government did not pay heed to their demands. AMSA maintained that they did not seek any special privilege from the government for the relentless service they offered during the pandemic. Several rounds of talks were held with the government to find a solution to their long-pending demands.
"The doctors were not promoted though the government made promises to do so several times. We want time scale promotion for all cadres of doctors," said AMSA assistant general secretary, Dr Makhan Ch Saikia. He rued that about 1,000 posts of doctors from junior to senior levels are lying vacant in the state. "The recruitment process of doctors must be expedited," said Saikia.
He lamented that even after serving in the posts of joint directors and sub-divisional medical officers for more than 10 years, many senior doctors of the state are not being promoted.
Moreover, AMSA demanded a dignified salary for the senior doctors with post-graduate (PG) degrees. "Some newly appointed PG doctors are getting more pay than senior doctors, who were appointed earlier with the same qualifications. This is another injustice in the healthcare system," said Saikia.
Among other demands, AMSA demanded increment for doctors doing PG under the Srimanta Sankaradeva University of Health Services.