Private Hospitals Call Off Strike

Bhubaneswar: The private clinical establishments in Odisha on Monday called off their proposed strike after getting assurance from the state government that it would revisit the Clinical Establishment Act.

They have deferred the proposed strike for one month.

The All Odisha Private Medical Establishment Forum (AOPMEF) had threatened to close down the health facilities on November 1 protesting against the state government’s dilly-dallying attitude for registration and renewal of health facilities besides anomalies in fire safety norms.

The AOPMEF called off the strike after holding a meeting with Health secretary Arti Ahuja here on Monday.

“The Health department has assured us that they would simplify some provisions for the interest of health institutions. We have decided to postpone the strike for one month. If no action is taken as per our demand, we would take further course of action,” said Forum’s president Dr. Ajoy Kumar Mishra.

He said the government assured that the demands are under active consideration of it.

Mishra said while the state has 1,777 clinical establishments, the registration of 1,551 units are yet to be renewed.

He blamed the state government for imposing an old fire safety regulation on the clinical establishments.

The forum members said it is difficult for the old health facilities to comply with the guideline of National Building Code of India (NBCI) as insisted by the fire officials for no objection certificate.