Government doctors in Haryana began an indefinite strike on Thursday hitting services in the state-run hospitals.

The strike has been called by the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association, which represents government doctors in the state, to protest the non-fulfilment of their various demands.

In a bid to resolve the issue, government representatives are holding talks with the doctors' body here. The talks began in the afternoon.

The doctors' demands include the formation of a specialist cadre for them and a career progression scheme that ensures parity with their central government peers.

The association called for a shutdown of health services in the government hospitals as a mark of protest.

A day ahead of the strike call, the state government had urged the doctors' association to consider the impact of the strike on the patients.

"Doctors of various government health institutions have proceeded on an indefinite strike across the state," association president Dr Rajesh Khyalia said.

The institutions include civil hospitals, sub-district hospitals, community and primary health centres, he said.

Khyalia said that OPD, emergency and post-mortem examination have also been impacted.

Nearly 3,000 doctors across the state were expected to take part in the strike before it began.

On Wednesday, four association members, including Khyalia, had also started an indefinite hunger strike in front of the office of the Health Services director general in Panchkula.

The other demands of the doctors include no direct recruitment of senior medical officers and reduction in the bond amount for postgraduate courses.

On the government's invitation for talks on Thursday, Khyalia said, "We will attend the meeting but if there is no outcome, then our strike will continue indefinitely." Long queues of patients were seen in outpatient departments (OPDs) of district hospitals at many places, including Panipat, Gurugram, Bhiwani and Hisar. The patients said they were told that the doctors were on strike.

At a few other places, some patients in OPDs said they were attended to by doctors undergoing postgraduate training, retired doctors or those doing internship.

However, the health officials said alternate arrangements had been made so that not much inconvenience is caused to the patients.

"Over the past several months, we have been given repeated assurances pertaining to our various demands but those remain unfulfilled. So, we have decided to observe a total shutdown of health services, including OPD, emergency and post-mortem from Thursday," Khyalia had said on Wednesday.

"On July 18, we were assured by the additional chief secretary (health) that a notification will be issued before July 24 pertaining to two demands -- assured career progression and the bond issue -- but nothing happened. We had told the government a month ago that we will be compelled to shut down all services from July 25 (if the demands are not met)," he had added.

In a letter to the association on Wednesday, Health Minister Kamal Gupta urged the doctors to consider the impact of their strike on the general public, saying the government recognises the importance of their demands and is actively working towards a resolution that will be satisfactory to all parties involved.

On July 15, the government doctors observed a two-hour strike to press for their demands. The strike had affected OPD services in the government health care institutions across the state.

According to the association, the doctors have to submit two bonds of Rs 1 crore each for admission to postgraduate courses. It demands that the amount should be be considerably reduced.

On the direct recruitment of senior medical officers, the association has said it will block the growth of hundreds of medical officers awaiting promotion to the post after completion of 20 years of service.

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