Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 21 Feb: The Arunachal Pradesh Doctors’ Association (APDA) launched its two-day mass casual leave-taking protest on Friday to press its demand for the transfer of Health Commissioner Pawan Kumar Sain and Health Secretary Ira Singal.
Addressing mediapersons at the Health Services Directorate, APDA president Dr Komling Perme said that the commissioner and the secretary are responsible for halting files related to the welfare of the doctor community.
He said that the secretary had convened a meeting on 19 February with the APDA executive members and the medical education director, but the meeting notice highlighted only the matter of Dynamic Assurance Career Progression Level-14, which the APDA was not satisfied with.
“We aren’t ready to attend any meeting unless the health secretary is removed,” Dr Perme said.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Manish Kumar Gupta has convened a meeting with the APDA executive members, the health services director, the family welfare director, and the medical education director on 24 February to discuss the representations submitted earlier by the APDA before the health commissioner and the health secretary.
It is learnt that the directors under the health & family welfare department and the APDA members will also meet separately, without the presence of the commissioner and the secretary, so that the APDA’s members my place their grievances without pressure.
Apart from emergency services, all the outpatient department services were closed, and very few patients could be seen at the TRIHMS OPD in Naharlagun on Friday.
