Don't give any leave to medical officers: Nagaland govt to health department

Dimapur: The Nagaland government on Thursday directed the state health and family welfare principal director, chief medical officers and medical superintendents not to sanction any leave of any government medical officer or healthcare professional.

The government issued the directive in the wake of the Nagaland In-Service Doctors' Association being on an indefinite strike since October 28 demanding an increase in their retirement age from 60 years to 62.

It was also directed that no government medical doctor will communicate with members of the press in matters not connected with their discharge of official duty. Failure to comply with the instructions will be liable to disciplinary action in addition to deduction of pay for the unauthorised absence on the principle of 'no work no pay', the government order read.

The government has decided to activate certain measures at various levels to manage and mitigate the likely impact of such unauthorised absence of a large number of doctors and ensure that the health services are not disrupted for people.

It said a state-level control room with a dedicated helpline will be set up for coordination and real-time monitoring of the situation. The control room will be overseen by the principal director of the health and family welfare department.

At the district level, a district-level control room will be set up under the chairmanship of an officer not below the level of ADC or SDO (civil) and consisting of officers from the medical and other departments for coordination and real-time monitoring of the situation in the respective districts.

The control room will be in constant touch with the state-level control room and provide regular status updates for effective monitoring.