Dear Doctors,
Today is a momentous day. It is a day which will long be cherished and thanked.
After a long struggle, the government of Haryana has finally approved new service rules for doctors in the cabinet meeting held today in Chandigarh.
On behalf of the State Executive I would like to congratulate each one of you for your unstinted support, faith, constructive criticism, motivation and unity.
I would take this opportunity to explain some salient features of these new rules as approved by the cabinet are notified in the next few days–
1. The doctors have till now been placed at Group B with the pay scale of 14880 + 5400 (PB-2) at entry level and used to attain Group A status on completion of probation period when they were placed in PB-3. Now the doctors will be Group A at the entry level itself and the starting pay scale would be 15600+5400 (PB-3). This will place us at par with the Doctors of Government of India and the neighboring states.
2. As you are aware, presently 25% of the posts of SMOs in the department are reserved for direct appointment through HPSC. Till now only doctors having MD/MS degrees to their credit are eligible for the same. In these rules, the doctors having PG Diploma to their credit will also be eligible for direct appointment as SMO through HPSC.
3. Till now, there were two separate sets of service rules- HCMS (Group A) Service Rules 1981 for SMOs and above, and HCMS (Class II) Service Rules 1978 for MOs. Now both these rules stand repealed. Now all the Doctors in service, from the junior most MO to DGHS, will be governed by a single set of service rules – HCMS (Group A) Service Rules 2014.
These changes carry immense implications:-
Now the Doctors of Haryana will be at par with Doctors in other states in terms of status and pay scale at entry level. It will help attract more Doctors to service, which in turn will help reduce the burden on Doctors.
In the sixth pay commission, officers of the Group A were given 15600+5400,PB 3 while those of Group B were given 14880 + 5400,PB 2. Normally, the next pay commission can be expected to follow the pattern of the previous pay commission. This would have placed us at a very disadvantageous position had the Doctors been Group II at the time when seventh pay commission comes into force.
There were also apprehensions that like the entry level pay scales, if different apex pay scales are offered to Group A and Group B services at any time by the Government, then the loss caused to us would be immense.
Earlier, the Doctors with PG Diploma used to be denied the opportunity for promotion as SMO through HPSC. Now they will also be eligible. It will help in boosting their morale, open up new career avenues for them and attract new specialists to the job, hence helping in reduce the burden of existing specialists. Earlier, we used to notice that our Doctors going for in service PG used to opt for Degree courses in branches not of their choice instead of Diploma courses in the branch of their liking simply because of this difference. Now Doctors will not be hesitant to take up the branch of their choice simply because they were being offered diploma, not degree.
Earlier, whenever any demand of Doctors had financial implications, the government invoked the principle of parity and used to claim that if the demanded benefit was accorded to HCMS Doctors then other services at par with HCMS will also demand the same. Now, the principle of parity will be applicable in regard to a lesser number of services and would weaken the excuse of the government.
And, henceforth all the HCMS Doctors will be governed by a single set of rules.
This is a result of our unity.
We thank you and congratulate you on this remarkable achievement.
Still, there are many more wars to be fought and many other battles to be won.
So, keep the faith and be united.
With warm regards,
Dr Ashish Rana.
General Secretary.
