Correspondents
The ongoing protest by government doctors under the banner of Nagaland In-Service Doctors’ Association (NIDA) in the form of three-day mass-casual leave entered the second day on Tuesday.
Though chief secretary J Alam convened a meeting with NIDA leaders in the afternoon, it was learnt that the meeting remained inconclusive.
According to sources, the chief secretary made a verbal appeal to the NIDA leaders to call off their stir since the matter was under the State government’s consideration and a cabinet meeting was scheduled on Thursday where the matter would be discussed.
But sources said the NIDA office bearers remained steadfast in their determination to continue with the ongoing agitation.
Meanwhile, NIDA leaders said that though they had rejected the appeal made by the chief secretary, there would be a break in the agitation on April 21 considering the fact that cabinet meeting was scheduled that day.
It was learnt that NIDA had impressed upon the state government that only the option of 62 years for all should be put up in the cabinet memo.
They further mentioned that the future course of action would depend on the outcome of the cabinet meeting.
Meanwhile, as per “information” that has been circulated, NIDA is likely to hold a general body meeting on April 21. However, ahead of the meeting, NIDA has asked all its district units to hold a consultative meeting in their respective district on April 20 to deliberate on the next course of action if the outcome of the cabinet meeting was not favourable to NIDA.
ASU clarifies stand
Angami Students’ Union (ASU) has reiterated that doctors in Nagaland deserved to be on equal footing with their counterparts in rest of the country.
Addressing a press conference at ASU office here on Tuesday, union’s core committee convener Kezhazer Angami clarified that, sensing the urgency of the superannuation issue of government doctors raised by Nagaland In-service Doctors’ Association (NIDA), the union came forward to help facilitate an understanding between the State government and association to resolve the matter at the earliest.
He said ASU had raised this issue during Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) federal assembly where it requested the latter to differentiate between the superannuation of other government employees and government doctors.
However, he claimed that NSF could not arrive at a conclusive decision during the assembly and therefore referred the matter for wider consultations.
Subsequently, the federation held only two consultative meetings, one with its senior leaders and the other with the presidents of its federating units of Nagaland.
Later, the federation came up with a resolution on the issue during a presidential council meeting.
Kezhazer said the incident had kicked up a storm in the media. However, in order to avoid a paper war, he explained that ASU had called the press conference to clear the air regarding its stand on the issue.
He clarified that ASU had no grudge against NSF. But because of certain mismanagement, the union was compelled to make a stand, he added.
ASU president Bisevi Nakhro, who too was present, was categorical that the superannuation issue of doctors and general employees were two completely different issues.
He clarified that if the Central government had issued similar provisions for other departments, ASU would have extended its support.
He reasoned that the superannuation age for doctors was unique because it was applied in almost all the States.
He said the move was meant to overcome the shortage of doctors – the current doctor-population ratio was 1:4,000. He commented that the shortage of doctors would also affect the smooth functioning of the upcoming medical colleges in the State.
When steps were being taken for improvement of the State’s medical sector, there should not be any hesitancy in putting that into effect.
Nakhro maintained that after ASU had voiced its concern on the superannuation issue during NSF’s federal assembly on March 12, 2022, the issue was referred for wider consultations, following which only meetings were held – seniors’ consultative meeting on March 25 at Hotel Japfü and presidential meeting on April 11.
He maintained that the resolution on the issue was taken during the presidential meeting, which was supposed to be only a consultative meeting, while the matter should have been reverted to the federal assembly since it was where the issue was first tabled.
He disclosed that during the presidential meeting, three agendas were discussed – Nagaland Staff Selection Board (NSSB), NIDA issue and rationalisation of teachers in school education department.
Nakhro commented that NSF putting up only the NIDA issue out of the three agendas discussed in its press statement was an indication of its biasness against increasing the superannuation age of government doctors.
He insisted that the presidential council meeting was not a competent policy-making body on matters tabled in the federal assembly.
Therefore, ASU refused to append its signature in the drafted resolution as a sign of its objection to the manner in which the matter was handled and executed, he added.
He also referred to NSF’s conflicting stands to maintain status quo on the issue and also stating that it was open to reviewing the existing superannuation policy of the State. Hence, the malicious claims by some NSF federating units were misleading and provocatory, he remarked.
Thus, after proper deliberation and consultation with its four units and senior leaders, Nakhro mentioned that ASU had decided not to cooperate with incumbent NSF team as they had failed to uphold the faith of the union through its way of functioning.
Another ASU remarked that the union was totally unsatisfied with how the State government had handled the issue thus far.
He said the government should have taken bold and timely decision when the issue was raised by NIDA, adding that prolonging the issue with various excuses was very unwelcoming, he added.
He regretted that though the State government had assured NIDA on April 17, 2021 to resolve the issue within a year, nothing had been done even after expiry of the stipulated time. Instead, he accused the government of deploying police personnel and setting up various control rooms to monitor the issue as well as warning doctors not to go on mass casual leave.
He asked that if this was the response of the government then why had the chief secretary given assurance to NIDA to resolve the issue within one year.
Noting that the government was only provoking the issue, he warned that in case of any untoward situation arising during the ongoing issue and where patients were unable to get medical attention, then the government and the parties hijacking the doctor’s genuine demand would be held liable.
Answering a query on why ASU was in favour of increasing the superannuation age of doctors instead of pressing for filling up the vacant posts, one union leader said in its representation to the chief secretary, ASU had clearly asked the government to fill up the subsidiary resultant vacancies through NPSC to absorb unemployed doctors on exigent requirement and further create more requisite vacancies to meet the shortage of doctors in the State.
According to the ASU leaders, 515 patients were denied medical care at health facilities under the union’s jurisdiction in the first two days of mass casual leave by the doctors.