Dimapur, April 20 (MExN): With a State Cabinet meeting scheduled for April 21, the Nagaland In-service Doctors’ Association has decided to withhold its ongoing agitation on the day.
The Cabinet will be deciding on the long pending issue of increasing the superannuation age for government doctors in the state, the NIDA stated in a press release on Wednesday. It said the decision to withhold the protest was made in “due regard to the highest decision-making body and to create a conducive environment.”
The release which was issued by NIDA President Dr E Phyantsuthung and General Secretary Dr Mereninla Senlem stated that during the three days of mass casual leave, almost all NIDA members— both regular and contractual— voluntarily availed causal leave. However, the District health unit heads which include the Chief Medical Officers of the districts and the Medical Superintendents of District Hospitals were exempted from the purview of the mass causal leave.
“As a mature organisation, the Association, understanding the need for maintaining essential medical services, has kept emergency services functional (and) manned by doctors in spite of applying for casual leave,” the release stated. The admitted patients are also being attended to and in some district hospitals, emergency lifesaving surgeries have also been conducted, it maintained.
The NIDA also reminded that it first started the agitation on January 2021 in the form of wearing black arm bands to protest non-fulfilment of its demands. It said that after a series of deliberations with the government, the agitation was kept on hold following a written assurance from the government. “The association was compelled to take this drastic step as the government failed to fulfil its written assurance of solving the issue within a ‘period not exceeding one year’ given on April 17, 2021,” it said.
It appealed to the general public for cooperation and moral support as it strives for the legitimate demand.
