Medical services hit across Himachal as doctors seeking NPA restoration take mass leave

Medical services across Himachal Pradesh were hampered on Thursday after majority of the doctors working in government hospitals went on a mass leave over non-fulfilment of their demand for restoration of non-practising allowance NPA.Patients had to face inconvenience in getting treatment. However, emergency services were not affected.

Medical services across Himachal Pradesh were hampered on Thursday after majority of the doctors working in government hospitals went on a mass leave over non-fulfilment of their demand for restoration of non-practising allowance (NPA).

Patients had to face inconvenience in getting treatment. However, emergency services were not affected. Meanwhile, doctors organised blood donation camps in several districts during their mass leave.

The doctors have been demanding the restoration of NPA from the state government for a long time and are even on a two-hour pen-down strike for the past few weeks.

Dr Vikas Thakur, General Secretary, Himachal Medical Officers Association (HMOA), said that in June 3, 2023, a delegation of doctors met Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to raise their demand for NPA.

Thakur said Sukhu had then assured them that their demands will be fulfilled, however eight months have passed and no concrete steps have yet been taken by the government in the matter.

He said that the association will intensify the movement if their demands are not fulfilled. Earlier the doctors used to get 20 per cent of their basic pay as NPA and the decision to discontinue the scheme by the Congress-led state government in May 2023 resulted in financial losses to the doctors.