Photo Source: Babushahi Network
Doctors hold massive state level dharna and protest march on Mohali-UT border
Mohali, July 23, 2021:
On the call of the Joint Government Doctors Coordination Committee, thousands of doctors on Friday arrived at the Civil Hospital Phase 6 in Mohali with full enthusiasm to fulfill the call of “23rd July Chandigarh Chalo”. The group of doctors was composed of veterinary, dental rural medical officers, ayurvedic and homeopathic doctors besides health departments from across Punjab. Doctors from every district of Punjab in large numbers attended the dharna and protest march. Before March, thousands of doctors wearing aprons chanted slogans against the Punjab government in the scorching sun. They reminded the government that these are the same doctors who set an example of service to humanity by becoming Corona warriors in the Corona period and it is a shame that now due to wrong policies of the government doctors are forced to take the road to claim their rights.
Dr. Gagandeep Singh President of PCMSA, Dr. Sarabjit Singh Randhawa President, Veterinary Officers Association, Dr. Gagandeep Singh Shergill Senior Vice President PCMSA Dr. Pawanpreet Kaur President, Dental Association, Dr. Sanjeev Pathak President, Ayurvedic Association, Dr. Deepinder Singh President RMO was present on this occasion.
Association, Dr. Balwinder Singh, Homoeopathic Association and Dr. Jagjit Singh Bajwa President Rural Medical Officers Association addressed the gathering of doctors from the stage and warned the government that if the legitimate demands of the doctors were not met immediately, all the doctors in the state would We will not back down from intensifying the struggle. Dr. Darshan Kheri General Secretary Punjab State Veterinary Officers Association said that the first task of the elected representatives is to look after the welfare of the people but the government is forcing the doctors who are serving the people day and night to struggle. Expressing regret over the inconvenience caused to the people and at the same time strongly condemning the anti-people attitude of the Punjab government that even after a lapse of one month the government has deliberately remained unaware of the problems facing the people.
Dr. Inderveer Singh Gill Convener, Coordinating Committee and Dr. Manohar singh General Secretary PCMS Association conducted the stage and said that the doctors' strike was to save the public health care and veterinary health care system and said that the Coordinating Committee Strongly opposes the ongoing privatization policy and under the same policy the Sixth Pay Commission has slashed the NPAs already paid to doctors to demoralize them.
After this the protest march of the doctors marched towards the Chief Minister's residence from Civil Hospital Phase VI with loud slogans against the government. The police administration set up a barricade at the gate of the hospital which was broken by the enraged doctors and in the scorching sun they left for the residence of Chief minister Punjab chanting anti-government slogans. Further, the doctors' march was stopped by the police administration by re-barricading the square near Max Hospital. The doctors, who were present there blocked the hobby and chanted slogans against the government and the leaders of the coordination committee sent a message to the government through police officers that if any responsible representative of the government did not come to the protest site within half an hour to receive the memorandum of our demands then the doctors would break the barricade and start the march towards the Chief Minister's residence.
On behalf of the Punjab Government, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Health Minister reached the protest site to get the memorandum from the doctors and while addressing the group of doctors he said that the demand of doctors regarding NPA will definitely be met within a week's time. After the assurance given by the Minister, the leaders of the Coordination Committee told the doctors that our struggle will continue until the final solution and the dharna is currently being postponed for a week. They said that the next roadmap of the struggle would be given by tomorrow after a video conferencing meeting of the coordination committee.
Dr. Gagandeep Singh Shergill Senior Vice President, PCMS and Dr. Sarabdeep Singh, Media Secretary, Coordinating Committee, told the press that there was a lot of resentment among doctors across Punjab against the government's privatization policy and NPA cut. They said that it was under this policy that in the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission, the government had reduced the non-practicing allowance of doctors from 25 per cent to 20 per cent and also separated it from the basic pay. Government doctors from all streams have been following the path of struggle for a long time.