The State Health department threw out the 554- odd doctors under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) who had struck work in July, only to be pulled up by the Bombay High Court (HC) which insisted it not only takes the medicos back on its rolls, but also pay them for the month they were kept out of work. Upstaged, the Health department is now serving 29-day contracts to the ad-hoc (honorary) medical officers who are members of Maharashtra Association of Gazetted Medical Officers (MAGMO), the group that had originally called the strike. While this proposal of the Health department had been reported by Mirror (July 23, 2014), very few believed that it would be followed through, particularly in the light of the HC order (which the authorities have challenged in Supreme Court).
So when the 29-day renewed contracts were slapped on them, most of the recipients were caught unawares. "I…
