Odisha Doctors Withdraw Strike, OPD Services Resume

Bhubaneswar: The statewide agitation by government doctors in Odisha has been withdrawn following talks with the state government, bringing relief to patients across the state. The Odisha Medical Services Association (OMSA) decided to call off the strike after receiving assurances from the Health Department. Normal outpatient department (OPD) services at government hospitals will resume from Friday.

The decision was taken after a meeting between representatives of OMSA and Odisha Health Minister Mukesh Mahaling, during which doctors’ demands related to service conditions and workplace issues were discussed.

Addressing the media, the Health Minister said a high-level committee has already been constituted to examine the demands raised by the doctors. The committee will submit its recommendations to the government, and the assurances given will be implemented.

“We have assured the doctors that the recommendations of the committee will be implemented. Following this assurance, they have decided to withdraw the strike,” Mahaling said.

OMSA president Dr Kishore Mishra described the discussions as positive and said the government has assured that several demands would be addressed. “Many of the issues are expected to be resolved by this evening. For now, the agitation has been suspended, and normalcy will return from tomorrow,” he said.

With the strike being withdrawn, healthcare services across government hospitals are expected to function normally from Friday. This will put an end to the two-hour daily OPD shutdown that had disrupted patient care over the past few days. Patients visiting medical colleges, district headquarters hospitals, community health centres and primary health centres are expected to receive full services without delays.

The agitation was launched by OMSA over a 10-point charter of demands. As part of the protest, doctors had suspended OPD services for two hours every morning, affecting thousands of patients across the state.

The key demands include parity with central government pay scales, abolition of the Level-15 pay structure, cadre restructuring, higher incentives for specialists and super specialists, and an exit policy for doctors serving in KBK and KBK-plus regions.

Earlier, the state government had invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to ensure uninterrupted healthcare services during the agitation.