Moa Jamir
Nagaland has a shortfall of 326 MBBS doctors, 13 dental surgeons, 20 AYUSH medical officers as well as various clinical positions in the existing health units as per Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS), the Nagaland In-Service Doctors’ Association (NIDA) had recently highlighted.
Despite the shortage, the State Government seems to be in no hurry to address the problem faced by the medical community, if one goes by the recent announcement by the association to undertake a 2-day mass casual leave from March 7, alleging non-fulfilment of written assurance given by the State Government regarding the superannuation age of medical doctors.
The association alleged that the State Government through the office of the Chief Secretary, on April 17, 2021, had given written assurance that it was “actively considering the matter relating to the increase in the superannuation age of Medical Doctors and offered to resolve the matter within a period not exceeding one year.”
With the one-year deadline approaching and no concrete conceptualisation on the issue, NIDA maintained that it was “constrained” to use more aggressive means and cautioned that mass casual leave would be followed by total cease work and to the extent of mass resignations.
Without going into the merits and demerits of the NIDA’s demand, the State government's dilly-dallying is symptomatic of the usual state of affairs that continue to inflict governance in Nagaland.
The Government by now has perfected the art of employing ‘delaying tactics’ either by announcing a policy or decision prematurely and allowing it to linger perpetually without implementation, while simultaneously holding 'consultative' meetings, to depict a semblance of activity; or buying times with promises to temporarily tide over a pressing issue, but sitting over it.
Even submissions to the court are not spared. The scepticism expressed by the Kohima Bench of Guwahati High Court concerning the State’s Government’s ability to start the first batch of MBBS students despite apprising the Court that the Medical college project “would be completed by 2022, and the first batch of MBBS students will be admitted for the session 2022-2023,” is a case in point. The contempt petition filed by the All Nagaland Judicial Ministerial Staff (ANJMS) against the L&J department for non-enforcement of an order passed by the High Court on August 25, 2020, is another instance.
Moreover, if one goes by the claim made by the NIDA that it agreed to scale down its demand to superannuation age to 62 years for all the medical doctors, seems quite reasonable, given the rising life expectancy across as well as the acute shortage of experienced workforce in the State. With the possible opening of two medical colleges in the near future as well as starting of district-level medical establishments in the newly created districts, the shortages may turn acute.
The Government of the day, which started its initial innings, among others, by promising all-out efforts to implement good governance initiatives by setting periodic targets, including a 100-day deadline, must not be caught employing delay tactics and sleeping over the pertinent matters. It must get its act together.
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