Guwahati: The chief minister of Manipur, N Biren Singh, had threatened to take harsh action against the All Manipur Health Services Doctors’ Association (AMHSDA) under the Essential Service Maintenance Act if they continued their agitation while pleading with them to end the indefinite strike that forced the closure of government-run hospitals and health facilities.
On February 27, he made this declaration during the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly’s subsequent third session.
Congress MLA K Ranjit moved a cut policy resolution during the demand and discussion session. In response, Biren stated that the state government had already informed the agitators that rising the superannuation age to 65 years was not possible.
Notwithstanding the fact that their service falls under the definition of an essential service, they obstinately continue their campaign against the hospital closure. The state government will no longer sit silent and will instead take action against irate doctors in case they decide to call off the protest under the Essential Service Maintenance Act.
The state government will make the required arrangements to hire doctors for daily wages in order to reopen all government-run hospitals that have been shut down as a result of doctors’ unrest.
The state government has started delivering those demands that it deems reasonable, however the health minister Sapam Ranjan Singh has stated that certain of the demands made by AMHSDA cannot be met.
“Their demand to give time scale promotion and increase of superannuation period from 62 years to 65 years is contradictory. The process has initiated to deliver the remaining demands including implementation of Non-Practising Allowance and amendment of Manipur Health Services Rules,” he informed and further warned to withdraw their ongoing agitation at the earliest.
Minister Sapam Ranjan responded to Congress MLA K Ranjit’s claim that the Dental College of Jawaharlal Nehru of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) had purchased a subpar chair by stating that the equipment was purchased from the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) and that the item in question is still covered by warranty.
Also, before providing a recognition certificate, the Dental Council of India typically conducts inspections to determine the calibre of the institute’s faculty, facilities, and other components. With regard to the aforementioned requirements, providing subpar equipment is impossible. He promised that the state government would investigate any possible wrongdoing in the Dental College’s equipment purchase.
Sapam Ranjan said that the state government had taken up the project for the construction of 68 effluent treatment plants in response to the cut policy motion put forth by Congress MLAs K Ranjit and Th Lokeshwar Singh on the lack of biomedical waste management and improper disposal of waste material. The construction project will be finished this year by March 31. All of the state’s biomedical waste can be treated systematically once these plants are up and running.
However, all bio-medical waste is currently disposed of in a proper manner as well. Both the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) and the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) feature on-site incinerators. At the SHIJA Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facilities Center, he noted, garbage generated from roughly 57 health facilities, including Community Health Centers, Primary Health Centers, and District Hospitals, is burned incinerator.
He added that, in accordance with the 2015 Biomedical Waste Management Rule, biomedical waste from medical facilities in remote locations is buried in deep pits.
All government-run hospitals and health centres in Manipur have been shuttered as of February 14 in response to the All-Manipur Health Services Doctors’ Association’s (AMHSDA) call for an indefinite shutdown to protest the state government’s failure to meet their charter of demands.
The four demands include time-bound/time-scale promotions, a 65-year retirement age for doctors in administrative positions, Non-Practising Allowance (NPA) in accordance with the 7th Central Pay Commission beginning on January 1, 2016, and a significant revision of the antiquated MHS rules 1982.