The protesting AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) students across Odisha have now called off their strike after a meeting with State Health and Family Welfare Minister Niranjan Pujari and Commissioner-cum-Secretary Shalini Pandit on September 16, Saturday. The students had demanded that more posts for AYUSH doctors be created, and in pursuit of this, they continued their protest for over 15 days.
According to Dr Lopamudra Khatoi, General Secretary of the All Odisha Ayush Students' Association (AOASA), on August 18, the AYUSH students collectively sent a letter to the government regarding their demands and intimated that if they were not worked upon, a black badge protest would be initiated from August 25, which duly happened. "On the same day, we sent another letter to the government, stating that we would go on strike from August 31, and on a lack of response, we started our strike," she says.
AOASA comprises the Homeopathic Medical Students Association (HMSA) and the Ayurvedic Medical Students' Association (AMSA). "Students from all seven AYUSH colleges in Odisha, including three Homeopathy colleges and four Ayurveda colleges, took part in the protest," informs Dr Khatoi, adding that only the teaching activities were suspended and the treatment to patients was duly being given during the period of the protest.
As a result of new posts not being created for AYUSH doctors for the last 21 years, Dr Khatoi says that AYUSH services are not able to reach the masses. Currently, there are 562 Homeopathy hospitals and 619 Ayurveda hospitals in Odisha, whereas its population is about four crore, according to the general secretary. "Lack of new posts has also led to a reduction in the intake capacity. Every year, hundreds of AYUSH doctors graduate, but there are not enough posts to recruit them all," she adds.
AOASA has demanded that at least 500 Medical Officer posts, each for Ayurveda and Homeopathy, be created regularly every year. They have also asked for 100 new hospitals, each for Ayurveda and Homeopathy, to be built. "During the meeting, Secretary ma'am assured us orally that our demands would be worked on, and our file was forwarded to the Finance Department for the purpose," Dr Khatoi said.
"This association extends their thankfulness to the authorities for their assurance. The strike is called off with effect from 16.09.2023 subject to the movement of the proposal relating to the creation of posts to the Finance Department. Madam Health secretary assured the association to move the proposal to the concerned department within the next working day and the association is optimistic. The association will again move to strike if Gov't fails to fulfill the demands of the association. Henceforth, the Administrative, Academic blocks will be opened and interns will join their duty until further decision," reads an AOASA press release.
