By IANS
Patna : The Bihar government has decided to put health facility under the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) in a bid to end the ongoing statewide strike by paramedics, which entered sixth day Thursday severely hitting the patient care in the state.
The strike, which started last Friday, is said to be the cause of death of half a dozen patients in different district hospitals, where the deceased didn’t receive any proper medical care.
The third and fourth grade health employees have been protesting the police baton charge and arrest of their women colleagues last week.
“The government will not allow deterioration of health services in the name of protests… the services would be brought under ESMA,” Bihar Health Minister Chandra Mohan Rai told IANS Thursday.
“My department had already directed all district magistrates and civil surgeons to take all possible measures to deal with the ongoing strike by health workers,” Rai said.
Health has already been included in the list of ESMA in most states in India.
The indefinite strike has crippled the functioning of government-run hospitals, referral health centres, and primary health centres across the state.
Medical services in the Patna Medical College and Hospital, Nalanda Medical College and Hospital and Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital have been affected.
“The strike has badly affected the functioning of health centres, particularly in rural areas,” a senior official in the health department said.
At least half a dozen deaths have been reported in various district hospitals because of the ongoing health workers’ strike.
The leaders of the protesting health workers said the strike would continue until the arrested women employees are released.
The health workers went on strike to protest the police action against health workers, including trained midwives and members of Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA), mostly engaged in rural areas last Friday. They were then protesting against non-payment of salaries and other benefits and had blocked the Dak Bungalow Square, the busiest crossing in Patna.
The police used batons, water cannon and tear-gas to disperse them, injuring dozens of them.
Meanwhile, over 3,000 government doctors working in hospitals and public health centres across the state have threatened to go on strike to protest the state government’s failure to raise their pay scales, implement assured career promotion scheme, and put stop to lodging of FIRs against doctors without verification and “unacceptable” behaviour of the state administrative officials.
However, the Patna High Court Tuesday intervened to stop the doctors from going on strike “in the interest of patients”, after the court heard two public suits filed by Chandra Prakash and the Bihar chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA).