The All Manipur Health Service Doctors’ Association (AMHSDA) has warned that the ongoing protests in the state will be intensified and all health institutes across Manipur will be shut down indefinitely from February 14.

The general secretary of AMHSDA, Dr. Lolee P Nao addressed a press conference at Manipur Press Club on Saturday saying that the association was not satisfied and convinced with the state government’s response on their agitation in a recent Manipur Assembly session on February 3.

Dr. Nao said that the minister in question had earlier in December last year, assured them that their demands will be up for discussion in a cabinet meeting. However, their demands were not even touched in the several cabinet meetings since the assurance.

He said that upon the government’s request, the association brought down their demands to only four major topics, yet, none of the four demands were met till date.

The AMHSDA general secretary went on to inform that one of their demands was the time-bound promotion of employees. They said that the state government has implemented the same system of promotions in other government departments but it did not do so for doctors of health services.

This indifference of the Manipur government towards their demands goes to show that it does not bother about the welfare of healthcare workers, he added.

Moreover, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the extension of superannuation age of doctors from 62 years to 65 years in 2016 for both central and state governments. However, the Manipur government removed it after first extending the age as per instructions of the PM, said Dr. Nao.

He said that the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS), Imphal and other health services are under the state government. The extension of superannuation period of JNIMS to 65, while keeping that of health services doctors to 60 years is regrettable and condemnable, Dr. Nao further mentioned.

The AMHSDA general secretary also said that the implantation of the 7^th Pay Commission in 2016 and amendment of the Manipur Health Services rule are also among their major demands.

It may be noted that as per the World Health Organization (WHO), the ratio of doctors to patients is 1 per 1,000, but in Manipur it remains 1 per 1,300 to 1,400. The population of Manipur is 30 lakhs, so the number of doctors in the state should be 3,000. However, this is not the case and there is an acute shortage of doctors in Manipur, added Dr. Nao.