IMPHAL, Feb 27(NNN): All Manipur Health Services Doctors’ Association (AMHSDA) on Monday reaffirmed that the ongoing indefinite government hospital closure stir will continue until the demands of the doctors are addressed.
All the government-run hospitals and health centres across Manipur remained closed from February 14 in response to the indefinite shutdown by the AMHSDA.
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The doctors of the Manipur Health Services are protesting under the aegis of the AMHSDA against the state government’s failure to address their four-point charter of demands.
“We will not withdraw the stir of hospital closure until our demands are met,” said AMHSDA general secretary Dr Lolee P Mao at a press conference held at Manipur Press Club in Imphal today.
Not raising the matter of government hospital closure in the house of the ongoing budget session of Manipur Assembly is also a sign of disrespecting the doctors, he said.
He said that the state government remains mute and the state government is showing no sign of interest in the matter.
“It shows that the government does not care about the hardships faced by the people due to the closure of the hospitals and other healthcare centres.”
However, the AMHSDA and doctors are aware of the hardships being faced by the people of the state, particularly in the rural and far flung areas where there is no private hospitals, he said.
There would have been no problem for the people residing in Imphal and other valley districts as there are many private hospitals and healthcare centres. However, the people in remote and far flung hill areas are most affected by the stir.
The people are bearing with the hardship without blaming the doctors because they know that the demands are reasonable and the state government is neglecting the doctors, the general secretary of the association added.
The AMHSDA resorted to closure of all government-run hospitals and healthcare centres across the state while resuming their protest against the failure on the part of the state government to address their demands.
He alleged that despite repeated appeals from the association and assurances by the concerned authorities of the state government, not a single demand has been granted till date.
The four demands of the doctors include the time bound/time scale promotion, extension of superannuation age of doctors to 65 years as administrative post, Non Practising Allowance (NPA) as per 7th Central Pay Commission with effect from January 1, 2016, and major amendment of the outdated MHS rules 1982.
To press the state government to address their demand, the doctors had launched various forms of protest starting from October last year.
In January, the association shutdown OPD services in all the government hospitals as a mark of protest and announced it would launch an indefinite shutdown if its demands remain unfulfilled.
