- विज्ञापन -
Chandigarh: Doctors in Punjab have announced a complete suspension of (OPD) services today (September 12). The decision to completely suspend OPD services was taken after the Punjab government failed to give a formal written assurance regarding the fulfillment of doctors’ demands. In yesterday’s meeting it was said that doctors and the government agreed verbally during a meeting but no written assurance was given to doctors following which doctors escalated their protest and announced the complete closure of OPD. Earlier, OPD was closed only for 3 hours but from now it’ll be closed completely.
During this time, only emergency services will be operational in the hospitals across Punjab.
The Punjab doctors representing the Punjab Civil Medical Services (PCMS) Association have initially held talks with the Cabinet Sub-Committee, in which Health Minister Balbir Singh, Finance Minister Dr. Harpal Singh Cheema, Minister for New and Renewable Energy Aman Arora, Minister for Non-Resident Indian Affairs Kuldeep Dhaliwal were there. During the meeting, the sub-committee agreed in principle to address the main demands of doctors, particularly the restoration of the Assured Career Progression (ACP Scheme).
However, despite verbal agreement by the sub-committee to restore the ACP scheme and meet other demands, there was no written confirmation from the Punjab government. This led the PCMS Association to take the next phase of the agitation with a complete shutdown of OPD services for three consecutive days starting from today, i.e. September 12.
Different phases of Doctors Protest
After assurances from the government, the doctors divided the strike into 3 phases. The first phase of which has been completed. The first phase was from 9 to 11 September, in which OPD services were suspended from 8 am to 11 am. The second phase is going to run from 12 to 15 September. In which OPD services have been completely stopped. The third phase will be after 16 September. In this, doctors will clearly refuse to do OPD as well as medical legal.
