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Doctors vs govt: HCMS Association announces shutdown of health services on Dec 8 and 9

Demands discontinuation of direct recruitment for SMO posts.

3 min readUpdated: Dec 4, 2025 10:25 PM IST

With rising vacancies and stalled career progression, tensions between the government and doctors have sharply intensified.

Haryana’s medical services are set for a two-day shutdown as HCMS escalates its protest demanding an end to direct recruitment of SMOs.

The prolonged standoff between the Haryana government and the Haryana Civil Medical Services (HCMS) Association over the promotion of senior medical officers (SMOs) is set to intensify, with the latter calling for a complete shutdown of health services in government hospitals on December 8 and 9.

At the heart of the dispute lies the issue of promotions. Under the current policy, 75 per cent of SMO posts are filled through promotions from medical officers, while the remaining 25 per cent are reserved for direct recruitment. The HCMS Association has long demanded the discontinuation of direct recruitment, arguing that it limits promotional opportunities for medical officers. According to the association, direct recruits gain an undue advantage, leaving doctors who join as medical officers far behind in career progression. To press their demands, the union has repeatedly resorted to protests and strikes in recent years.

Defending the existing system, a senior health department officer pointed out that several other departments also follow a similar model, with a mix of promotions and direct recruitment. The officer acknowledged that the standoff has led to a rise in vacancies, claiming that a section of the health department supports continuing direct recruitment for SMOs.

Currently, 210 SMO posts are vacant out of a total of 644 sanctioned positions. Of these, 50 are meant to be filled through promotions, while the rest are reserved for direct recruitment. Due to opposition from the HCMS, the government has not proceeded with direct recruitment.

In a recent memorandum to Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, the union’s general secretary Dr Anil Yadav stated that previous rounds of direct recruitment “have caused stagnation in the cadre, with more than 95 per cent of medical officers receiving only one promotion in their entire service, from medical officer to SMO.”

“Many doctors have opted for voluntary retirement due to skewed promotional avenues. It is also important to note that no other state in the country has direct recruitment at the SMO level. In fact, the then state health minister in 2021 had categorically ordered that direct recruitment for SMOs be stopped,” he added.

The association had staged a two-day strike in July 2024, with nearly 3,000 doctors across government hospitals and health facilities participating.

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Recalling the strike, the association president Rajesh Khyalia said, “We called off the strike after a close aide of the Chief Minister assured us that no further direct recruitment for SMOs would take place, that service rules would be amended, and all vacant posts would be filled through promotion”.

“Yet, even after more than a year, this promise has not been fulfilled. Our demand for assured career progression has also not been met, despite the Chief Minister’s approval in 2024,” he added.

Director General of Health Services Dr Manish Bansal explained that the department had, in 2024, sent a proposal to the government to fill SMO posts through promotions as a one-time measure, but the proposal was rejected.

In an effort to break the deadlock, Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi on Thursday invited the HCMS Association for a meeting on Friday afternoon.