Bhubaneswar: In an unprecedented appeal to the medical fraternity of Odisha a group of concerned and conscious citizens has issued a plea for moral urgency and compassion as the ongoing agitation by the Odisha Medical Service Association (OMSA) threatens the stability of the state healthcare system.
To the doctors of our state whom we revere as the visible hands of Lord Jagannatha, we address you with a heavy heart. In the sacred geography of our society you are the final sentinel against the abyss. For the laborer from Kalahandi the weaver from Sambalpur and the countless rural poor who flock to our government hospitals your presence is the only hope they possess.
While citizens acknowledge the structural density of the crises you face including the crushing burden of thousands of vacancies and long delayed career progressions, people plead with you to remember the faces in the outpatient queues. When services are halted even for two hours it is the most vulnerable who suffer. For them healthcare is not an administrative negotiation but a matter of survival. People urge you to keep the hospital doors open for the spirit of your profession is rooted in humanity.
The public healthcare infrastructure across Odisha is currently navigating a period of acute instability as OMSA intensifies its agitation despite the State Government invoking the Odisha Essential Services Maintenance Act ESMA. Effective earlier this week the Home Department prohibited all strikes and work stoppages for six months yet over 6000 government doctors have persisted with a daily two hour boycott of Outpatient Department (OPD) services from 9 am to 11 am. This systemic crisis is driven by a 10 point charter of demands rooted in years of administrative delay. OMSA is pressing for the immediate implementation of the Dynamic Assured Career Progression (DACP) scheme pay parity with central government scales and the abolition of Level 15 to ensure equity with other Class I officers.
The moral urgency of the protest is further underscored by a staggering manpower deficit where out of a sanctioned strength of 15776 medical officers only about 6000 are currently in service. This leaves over 60 percent of positions vacant and creates a layered causality of extreme work pressure and professional burnout. While emergency units inpatient care and labor rooms remain operational the OPD shutdown has paralyzed routine consultations for lakhs of poor and rural patients.
Health Minister Dr.Mukesh Mahaling has repeatedly appealed to the medical fraternity stating that the government has already formed a high level committee to review the demands. Sincerity of Secretary Health Shrimati Aswthy S in solving the problems of doctors is known across the State.
However OMSA leadership has labeled the invocation of ESMA as an autocratic move and an attempt to suppress legitimate grievances through bureaucratic force. As both sides remain locked in a standoff the socio legal precision of the state response and the doctors steadfastness have placed the health of the general public at a critical crossroads.