Cabinet to consult Nagaland In-Service Doctors’ Association on superannuation issue

Our Correspondent
Kohima, March 22 (EMN): Principal Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Amardeep Singh Bhatia on Tuesday said the Cabinet in its last meeting decided to hold another round of consultation with Nagaland In-Service Doctors’ Association (NIDA) on the superannuation issue.

The remark came a day after NIDA decided to go for three-day mass casual leave from April 18 to the 20th over the failure of the state government to solve the superannuation issue.

‘The Cabinet in the last meeting decided that the committee headed by the chief secretary will hold another round of consultation with the stakeholders concerning the superannuation issue,’ Singh said at the Budget press conference in Kohima on Tuesday.

He went on to add that the Naga Students’ Federation and other bodies are “not in favor” of extending the doctors’ superannuation to 62 years as demanded by NIDA.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio also speaking on the issue said that though the prime minister announced superannuation, ‘there is no standing order’.

‘It’s not that we are overlooking or undermining the doctors. We need them and we want to invite them, provided they work in the hospital or in the medical colleges so that their expertise can be utilised’, he added.

With regard to non-payment of salary to newly (2020) recruited doctors, Bhatia said that instruction had been given to the directorate to release their salaries at the earliest.

He went on to add that extending their services took a little time because there was a gap and salaries were not being paid.

‘But the extension has already been sorted out and now they should be able to get paid,’ he said.

It may be mentioned that 180 doctors recruited in 2020 during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic haven’t received their salaries since November last year resulting in the resignation of 60 doctors.