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Doctors not happy with Naveen’s sops

BHUBANESWAR: The sops announced by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the floor of State assembly on Monday appeared to have not entirely convinced the agitating doctors who decided to defer their mass resignation plan by two months here on Tuesday.

“During next two months, we will analyse the measures announced by Chief Minister. We will also try to evolve a consensus on the demands fulfilled by the government,” Bhubaneswar Branch Secretary of Orissa Medical Services Association (OMSA) Dr. Nihar Ranjan Samal said.

OMSA convened its general body meeting here on Tuesday. Sources said senior doctors were not happy with the announcements. They moaned that package would not help them much. Besides, OMSA wanted that the State government should clear its stance on time-bound promotions of doctors.

“Due to larger interest of people, we have postponed our mass resignation plan,” Dr. Samal said. Meanwhile, normalcy returned to many government hospitals where patients had refrained themselves from coming in wake of doctors’ strike.

Tuesday was supposed to be the last working day for over 2000 doctors who had been putting immense pressure by putting forward their 19-point charter of demands.

In a bid to pacify doctors, Mr. Patnaik had announcement to accord Junior Class-1 officer status to doctors at entry level. The scale of pay for doctors joining Orissa Medical Services (OMS) cadre was also enhanced to Rs. 8000 to Rs. 13500 from the present level of Rs. 6500 to Rs. 10500. Similarly, two months time was sought from doctors to restructure cadre for creation of more promotional posts at different level.

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