OMSA strike enters 2nd day: Doctors shut OPDs for one hour; Odisha govt yet to respond

Outpatient departments (OPDs) in government hospitals across Odisha remained closed for one hour, from 10 am to 11 am, for the second consecutive day as Odisha Medical Services Association (OMSA) continued its indefinite protest on Saturday.

The doctors’ body is observing the protests alleging continued government inaction on a range of long-pending service-related demands. In an interaction with the media, doctors affiliated with OMSA said the protest will continue until their demands are addressed.

Sources reported that their decision has already begun affecting patients, with OPD services disrupted at major government hospitals, including SCB Medical College and Hospital and City Hospital in Cuttack, where doctors refrained from attending to patients for an hour today.

Protest Over Vacancies, Career Progression, Transfers

OMSA said the agitation is centred on multiple unresolved issues, including large-scale vacancies in sanctioned doctor posts, cadre restructuring, implementation of Dynamic Assured Career Progression (DACP) at central government parity, a transparent transfer policy, and healthcare insurance for doctors.

According to the association, more than half of the sanctioned doctor posts across the state are currently vacant. “Despite repeated representations and assurances, there has been no concrete action from the government. This prolonged neglect has left us with no option but to protest,” said an OMSA office-bearer at the demonstration site.

Doctors are also demanding immediate transfer of those who have been working for over five years in the KBK (Kalahandi–Balangir–Koraput) region, citing prolonged hardship postings without a clearly defined policy framework.

DACP Parity A Key Demand

One of the central demands of the association relates to DACP, which provides assured career progression to doctors when promotional posts are unavailable. OMSA leaders said the state government has fixed the DACP pay scale at Level-15, while IAS and other officers receive Level-16 pay.

“We had initially submitted an 18-point charter of demands, which we later narrowed down to 10. The core issue is DACP. If a doctor cannot be promoted due to a lack of posts, the salary of the promotional post must be granted. The government has fixed it at Level-15, while officers doing comparable levels of work are placed at Level-16,” said a protesting doctor at SCB Medical College and Hospital.

He added that doctors were not opposed to mandatory postings in KBK districts but insisted on a transparent and predictable system. “We are open to serving in difficult areas, but there must be clarity. No doctor should be forced to run from office to office for transfers or promotions,” he said.

ALSO READ: OMSA begins statewide protest, doctors suspend OPD services for an hour across Odisha

OPD Disruption Affects Patients

The one-hour OPD shutdown caused visible inconvenience to patients and attendants at major hospitals. At City Hospital and SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, patients were seen waiting outside OPD chambers during the protest hour, with several reporting delays in consultations.

Doctors, however, maintained that emergency services and critical care were not affected. “The current one-hour strike will not affect patients to a large extent. But if the government continues to ignore the issue, what may happen in the future is unpredictable,” a doctor said at the protest site.

OMSA has also announced that doctors participating in the agitation will boycott all national health programmes during the protest period, further escalating pressure on the government.

No official response from the state Health Department was available at the time of filing this report.