Bhubaneswar, Aug. 22: The Orissa Medical Services’ Association for the Doctors today threatened to resign enmasse — if the government fails to keep its commitment and fulfil its long-standing demands by a deadline of August 27.

“On March 17, the chief minister, on the floor of the House, had announced that he would start proceedings to accord (junior) Grade-I status to doctors at the entry level.

“He had also promised to restructure the posts after consulting with the association doctors to enable the professionals to receive maximum promotional benefits,” said the president of the association, Madhusudan Mishra.

The chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, had also announced to fix the pay scale, at the entry-level, at Rs 8,000-13,500 — like it is in the states of Bihar and Jharkhand.

With that the chief minister had promised to formulate a transparent policy, specialist allowance (of Rs 3,000) and post-mortem allowance of Rs 500 per month for the state’s doctors.

The association doctors also reminded the media that the government had promised to initiate steps to provide security to doctors on duty and promulgate an ordinance in this regard.

“However, even after five months, the notification in this regard has not been done...despite repeated discussions with government officials,” Mishra added.

“Our desire was to bring about all-round development in the state’s health delivery system. But, our purpose has been defeated due to the inordinate delay,” stressed Jyoti Prasad Biswal, the general secretary of the doctors’ association.