Government Doctors in Haryana End Indefinite Strike After State Assurances

The government doctors ended their indefinite strike on Saturday after receiving assurances from the Haryana government that their demands would be met, as stated by the chief of the association leading the shutdown. The doctors resumed their duties following the call-off of the strike.

The shutdown was lifted after a meeting between representatives of the protesting doctors and Amit Aggarwal, the additional principal secretary to the Haryana chief minister, late on Friday, as reported by Haryana Civil Medical Services Association president Dr. Rajesh Khyalia. Dr. Khyalia stated, “We have called off the strike.”

He also mentioned that the government has accepted the doctors’ demands and assured to notify them before August 15. The doctors had been demanding a career progression scheme to ensure parity with their central government peers, a reduction in the bond amount for admission to postgraduate courses from Rs 1 crore to Rs 50 lakh, and the formation of a specialist cadre for them.

Approximately 3,000 government doctors had gone on an indefinite strike on Thursday to press the state government to accept their demands, which had affected medical services in state-run hospitals in Haryana.

Several meetings were held between the association’s representatives and the state government to end the stalemate, with Rajesh Khullar, the chief principal secretary to the chief minister, and Sudhir Rajpal, the additional chief secretary (health), among those representing the government in these discussions.

The association had called for a shutdown of health services in government hospitals to protest the non-fulfillment of their demands.