n support of their pending demands, the Government doctors in Haryana went on an indefinite strike on Thursday, adversely affecting medical services in state-run hospitals. The Strike was called by the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association. The doctors demands include the formation of a specialist cadre for them and a career progression scheme that ensures parity with their central government peers. The association called for a shutdown of health services in the government hospitals as a mark of protest. Following the protest, patients were seen in long queues outside OPDs in various hospitals of the State and they complained that they were being treated by interns or retired doctors. To resolve the issue, government representatives are holding talks with the doctors body which began on Thursday afternoon. A day ahead of the strike call, the State Government had urged the doctors association to consider the impact of the strike on the patients. "Doctors of various government health institutions have proceeded on an indefinite strike across the state," Association President Dr Rajesh Khyalia said while talking to reporters.  The institutions include civil hospitals, sub-district hospitals, community and primary health centers, he said. Khyalia said that OPD, emergency and post-mortem examinations have also been impacted. Nearly 3,000 doctors across the state were expected to take part in the strike before it began. On Wednesday, four association members, including Khyalia, had also started an indefinite hunger strike in front of the office of the Health Services director general in Panchkula. The other demands of the doctors include no direct recruitment of senior medical officers and a reduction in the bond amount for postgraduate courses. On the governments invitation for talks on Thursday, Khyalia said, "We will attend the meeting but if there is no outcome, then our strike will continue indefinitely." Long queues of patients were seen in outpatient departments (OPDs) of district hospitals at many places, including Panipat, Gurugram, Bhiwani and Hisar. The patients said they were told that the doctors were on strike. At a few other places, some patients in OPDs said they were attended to by doctors undergoing postgraduate training, retired doctors or those doing internship. However, the health officials said alternate arrangements had been made so that not much inconvenience is caused to the patients. "Over the past several months, we have been given repeated assurances pertaining to our various demands but those remain unfulfilled. So, we have decided to observe a total shutdown of health services, including OPD, emergency and post-mortem from Thursday," Khyalia had said on Wednesday. On July 15, the government doctors observed a two-hour strike to press for their demands. The strike had affected OPD services in government health care institutions across the state. According to the association, the doctors have to submit two bonds of Rs 1 crore each for admission to postgraduate courses. It demands that the amount should be considerably reduced. On the direct recruitment of senior medical officers, the association has said it will block the growth of hundreds of medical officers awaiting promotion to the post after completion of 20 years of service.

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