Tough times ahead

Jamshedpur, Nov. 30: Jharkhand, it seems, is heading for an unprecedented crisis in the health sector.

The doctors on contract have decided to resign “en masse” on December 3 if they are not regularised before that. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has announced their decision to extend “all out support” to the contract doctors’ cause. “We are very much with them in their fight against injustice. We had already warned the government of the problem, but it has not paid heed to us,” said a state IMA office-bearer.

President of the All Jharkhand Contract Doctors’ Association Bimlesh Singh told The Telegraph that doctors from all the districts would assemble in Ranchi on December 3. They would hold a meeting in the state capital and then proceed towards the chief minister’s residence along with resignation letters .

“We have decided to present our case before chief minister Madhu Koda. If he agrees to regularise our services, fine. If he does not, we will tender our resignations immediately. We are in no mood to relent,” said Singh.

The state has so far maintained that the services of the doctors on contract would not be regularised. Their contracts would merely be renewed.

“We will wear black badges to protest against the state government’s failure to regularise us tomorrow,” Singh said.

Meanwhile, the government is all set to launch a much-hyped immunisation drive called “catch up round” in the state tomorrow. Starting from December 1, several camps would provide vaccines for measles and polio till December 15. They will also administer vitamin A doses and deworming tablets (Mebendazole) to children below five years of age. Pregnant women would be administered tetanus vaccines. Iron and folic acid tablets will be given to children between two and six years, and to pregnant and lactating mothers.

If the doctors on contract resign on December 3, the drive may come to a standstill.

There are 1,158 contract doctors in the state who constitute 45 per cent of the government health sector. The state had appointed 2,468 doctors on contract. However, 1,310 of them have either left their jobs, finding it “not lucrative” or had been terminated. Now the remaining 1,158 are not interested in getting their contracts renewed unless their services are regularised. They had launched a state-wide agitation two months ago, demanding regularisation.

Alarmed by the situation, health minister Hemendra Pratap Dehati reportedly asked a senior officer to look into the matter this week. He is also ready to explore other options to prevent the situation from worsening.

Sources said health secretary N.N. Pandey is also looking into all the options so that the health machinery does not collapse all of a sudden following the en masse resignation of contract doctors.