Shimla: The State Association of Medical and Dental College Teachers (SAMDCOT) on Sunday deferred their proposed three-day pen-down strike for two weeks after the state government cancelled its transfer orders.
The decision was taken following a meeting between the SAMDCOT delegation, led by its president Dr Balbeer S Verma, and Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, resulting in the cancellation of transfer orders of all associate professors and professors who had not been relieved or had not moved the court.
The association on October 28 threatened to resort to three days pen-down strike on November 2 followed by mass casual leave and a march to the Secretariat on November 5.
The doctors demanded dedicated fresh recruitment in AIMSS-Chamiana, re-evaluation of recent redeployment and transfer orders, constitution of a formal review committee to evaluate infrastructure, workload, and human resource needs.
They also sought the establishment of formal clinical protocols, transparent duty rosters, dedicated transport, and integrated diagnostics for smooth inter-facility patient handovers.
A SAMDCOT statement on Sunday said that during the meeting, key decisions and assurances were agreed, including instituting a transparent rotation policy featuring a two-month rotation cycle for faculty strictly aligned with sanctioned, required posts with standardised, equitable administrative rules across IGMC, AIMSS Chamiana, and all other state medical colleges.
It also included granting Non-Practicing Allowance (NPA) to all regular assistant professors, overhauling the senior resident (SR) policy to ensure posts across medical colleges are filled seamlessly, matching the framework at AIMSS Chamiana and re-examining the PG bond policy to give preference and career encouragement to candidates completing their postgraduate degrees from state medical colleges.
The doctors' association also highlighted fundamental structural hurdles, requiring urgent and decisive policy correction:
"AIIMS-Chamiyana should remain under the Aegis of the parent institution, IGMC, Shimla," they said.
AIIMS-Chamiana is not recognised as an independent teaching institution by the National Medical Commission (NMC). All super-specialty DM and MCh admissions are governed and enrolled under the parent institution, IGMC Shimla.
The SAMDCOT said dual and conflicting administrative setups will only continue to stall operational growth, and diluting or disregarding NMC norms severely jeopardises the statutory recognition of MBBS, MD/MS, and super-specialty seats across Himachal Pradesh.
"This two-week deferment is intended to provide the state government adequate operational time to issue necessary formal notifications and implement the agreed measures. The association will review the progress at the end of this period to assess implementation," the statement added.
This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.
