Hoshiarpur: Doctors on strike if their demands are not met

Hoshiarpur: Despite the talks going on between the government and doctors for the last 15 days, the government has neither issued any notification on the issue of ACP (Time Bound Promotion) nor appointed any security guards in the hospitals. Despite the assurance of security arrangements by the Health Minister, there is anger brewing among the doctors due to no arrangements at the ground level. The Punjab Civil Medical Service Association has written a letter to the Director and warned the department that before the proposed strike on September 9, the doctors will boycott monthly reports, benchmark indicators and other office work from today. They will not participate in any departmental meeting till the demands are met. On this occasion, a memorandum of demands was submitted to Civil Surgeon Hoshiarpur Dr. Pawan Kumar Shagotra. Association members Dr. Harpunit Kaur, Dr. Jagdeep Singh, Dr. Sahildeep, Dr. Sanam Sandhu, Dr. Navjot Sandhu, Dr. Sushant, Dr. Saurav Sharma and Dr. Hitesh Aggarwal were present on the occasion. Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh had assured the doctors during the one-day strike across Punjab that security arrangements would be ensured in every government hospital this month. The department had prepared the budget of expenditure and sent it to the Finance Department, but additional security arrangements have not been made at the ground level yet. The association said in the meeting that the department had also assured them that the already issued time-bound ACP system will not be stopped and the government will soon issue a notification to restore it, but the silence of the government shows that it is not serious about the health workers.