Government run hospital across Manipur were crippled on Monday owing to the suspension of Outpatient Department (OPD) services by All Manipur Health Services Doctors' Association (AMHSDA).
People visiting OPD were left with little or no choice as service came to a halt in hospitals. Many hospitals, particularly the JNIMS rescheduled patient appointments and communicated the suspension of OPD services to patients. However, emergency care services were not affected.
The AMHSDA on January 5 announced to shutdown OPD services in all the Government hospitals from January 9 followed by an indefinite shutdown in connection with its demands.
Also Read: Manipur doctors reiterate demands, call for indefinite OPD shutdown from January 9
The four demands of the AMHSDA were the time bound/scale promotion; extension of superannuation age of specialist and non-specialist doctors to 65 years as administrative post as per the declaration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi; inclusion of Non-Practicing Allowance (NPA) in the basic pay with effect from January 1 of 2016 as per the 7th Central Pay Commission; and Major Amendment of the outdated MHS Rules 1982.
AMHSDA general secretary Dr Lolee P Mao stated that as the government had agreed to put up the four demands of the Association in the December 2022 cabinet meeting, AMHSDA had earlier suspended its proposed 2-day OPD shut down and indefinite closure from December 27. Another cabinet meeting was held on January 2 but without taking up the four demands of AMHSDA.
The four demands were the time bound/scale promotion; extension of superannuation age of specialist and non-specialist doctors to 65 years as administrative post as per the declaration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi; inclusion of NPA in the basic pay with effect from January 1 of 2016 as per the 7th Central Pay Commission; and Major Amendment of the outdated MHS Rules 1982.
