Bhubaneswar: Government doctors, affiliated with the Odisha Medical Services Association (OMSA), suspended their indefinite cease-work agitation on Saturday following a meeting with Health and Family Welfare Minister Mukesh Mahaling, which lasted for over 3 hours.
In a statement, OMSA announced that the strike has been called off with immediate effect. All affiliated doctors have been directed to resume duties to prevent further disruption to healthcare services across the state. “We have decided to call off our indefinite strike following a meeting with the Health Minister. As per a decision taken at the meeting, the state government will form a high-level committee to look into our demands,” the association said.
A follow-up meeting between the two sides is scheduled for July 22 for continued discussions.
The OMSA had launched the protest on July 1, coinciding with National Doctors’ Day, to press for their long-pending 10-point charter of demands, including cadre restructuring of medical and dental services (to align with other state services like OMES and OAS), implementation of the Dynamic Assured Career Progression (DACP) scheme at par with central norms, special and place-based incentives, postmortem allowances, transparent transfer policies, enhanced security measures, health insurance for personnel, and regularisation of ad-hoc doctors.
The agitation severely impacted outpatient departments (OPDs), emergency services, and routine care in many Community Health Centres (CHCs), District Headquarters Hospitals (DHHs), and other facilities, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas. Several districts reported deserted hospital corridors, with patients, including the elderly and children, waiting for hours or returning untreated.
On Friday, the Health and Family Welfare Department issued a formal invitation to OMSA leaders for discussions at 11:30 am, urging them to restore normalcy.
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